


The Boy Is Mine (He's Really Not)

by LisaVanDerMolen



Series: The Boy Is Mine [1]
Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Alternate Universe - Rock Band, Alternate Universe - Theatre, Attempt at Humor, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Hinata and Yamaguchi are in it to win it, Kageyama is an actor, M/M, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Periodic reocurrences of the other band members, Third Gym (Haikyuu!!), Third Gym members are all in a band, Tsukki is hot af and everybody is lusting on him, a lot of characters will be mentioned and make appearances, for somebody smart Tsukki is pretty dumb homeboy doesn't even know the power he has, well in his defense he is busy, why is it so hard to tag??
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-30
Updated: 2020-12-13
Packaged: 2021-03-05 21:26:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 16
Words: 67,844
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25602052
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LisaVanDerMolen/pseuds/LisaVanDerMolen
Summary: Kei Tsukishima is hot. This is a fact known by many and no it is not up for debate, so it's really not a surprise that both Shouyou Hinata and Tadashi Yamaguchi are crushing on the guy. So what do you do when both you and your friend are crushing on the same guy? You obviously give each other a time limit to win him over. Now if only the competition was between the two of them...
Relationships: Hinata Shouyou/Tsukishima Kei, Kageyama Tobio/Tsukishima Kei, Tsukishima Kei/Yamaguchi Tadashi
Series: The Boy Is Mine [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2067459
Comments: 178
Kudos: 437





	1. So the Trouble Begins

Shouyou Hinata was grateful for the life he lived, he truly was but even his socially extroverted self had to admit that it was exhausting being famous, or well known as he liked to call it. Something about the word famous irked him, got onto his last nerve; it was probably the pressure that came with admitting to being famous. 

His younger self would have never even been able to imagine the heights of success he experienced in such a short amount of time. Sometimes it left his current twenty-one year old self in a daze as he reflected on how the band that was started for fun blew up, how the band would be known all over the world and admired by millions. Never would his eighteen year old self be able to phantom this, and it was all thanks to his friend Chikara Ennoshita who needed a good soundtrack for the movie he was directing that would hopefully get him into the film industry. From there on out the band Third Gym blew up, people loved the songs they did for the movie and their first album Nocturnal Animals helped their rise to fame, they won a few Grammy's: the Album of the Year, Record of the Year for their song Unbalanced, Song of the Year again with their song Unbalanced, and the Best New Artist, there were a few more that he couldn’t remember even though he was very grateful for all of them. The band even won an Oscar for their song Hooked Forever for Ennoshita’s movie Passion which went on to win The Best Picture, Original Score, Cinematography and Directing Oscars, and made the name Chikara Ennoshita known in Hollywood.

It had been a very good year for everybody but he suddenly found himself overwhelmed with all the pressure that came with being known so widely. Finding himself followed by the annoying paparazzi who couldn’t be charmed, and some fans that just couldn’t take no. The rest of the band members felt the same and a camaraderie was shared among them in which he found solace. He was thankful for his band members all of which he could proudly call his friends, he joined the band later than the others but was still welcomed with open arms by almost everybody. The band was composed of six members including himself, everybody was very talented and had a love so strong for music that they all agreed music was worth the negative aspects that came with the job.

Sure he was sometimes a bit envious of everybody’s height, but they all pushed him to become a better artist to let music elevate him which helped his journey to become one with music treating it as an extension of himself, through using your body, to the words written on paper that would turn into a beautiful song. Shouyou loved every single member to death and would do anything for them, for they were the ones who helped him achieve his dream of becoming a performer.

Starting to feel emotional Shouyou shook his head, he truly was grateful for everything that had happened so far in his life. He heard his doorbell ring and opened the door to his freckled friend who he hadn't seen in forever,“Tadashi!” he yelled tightly hugging the other man, they had been trying to plan a get together for quite some time now but their schedules just didn't line up. 

"Shouyou!" Yamaguchi returned with just as much excitement. "I haven't seen you in ages? How are you?"

"I'm bleghh," he motioned for the other man to come in. They walked to his living room and sat on the pink couch Natsu had picked it out and who was he to deny his younger sister this, plus the couch was very soft. “Everything is just so crazy especially considering that we’re going to New York next week.”

“Yeah I heard Tsukki had been talking about it, don’t you think it’s exciting though you guys will help write and produce music for an actual proper Broadway show.”

Shouyou smiled a wide showing off his teeth,“my heart is racing that’s how excited I am like Broadway is Broadway!" he exclaimed, throwing his arms up in the air. 

“Yeah! Broadway is Broadway!” Yamaguchi nodded excitedly,“imagine the different actors you’ll meet!”

“Yes!” Shouyou was buzzing with excitement,“also just the city itself like New York," he began to sing,"in New York concrete jungle where dreams are made of--"

“--there's nothin' you can't do, now you're in New York.”

“New York!” they sang in harmony bursting into a fit of giggles. 

“In the movies New York is always portrayed so romantic,” Yamagchi sighed deeply nudging him in the side,“maybe you’ll finally find somebody in the city where anything is possible.”

Shouyou blushed, he might as well tell the other man about his crush on a certain blond haired band member,“well what if I already have somebody closer to me?”

Yamaguchi gasped,“Shouyou! Who is it? Do I know them?! Please tell me!”

Laughing Shouyou shook his head,“well as long as you tell me who you’re crushing on as well,” he had noticed how his friend who had always been a hopeless romantic had started to zone out after hanging out with a certain blonde, he was pretty sure that Yamaguchi liked Yachi who did most of the designing for the band from their merch to their album covers, they would make a cute couple, he decided. 

Yamaguchi just smiled red creeping up onto his cheeks,“nothing ever escapes you now does it Shou?”

“Nuh uh, I’m too smart for my own good!”

Yamaguchi just smiled at that,“well what if we both say who we’re crushing on on the count of three so it won’t be awkward or anything.”

“God Tadashi your brain is big! That’s such a good idea!” 

“One.”

“Two.”

Shouyou felt butterflies fly around his stomach as he thought about the tall blond, closing his eyes he could just see the other man in front of him smirking that infuriatingly good looking smirk.

“Three!”

"Tsukki!"

"Kei!"

He opened his eyes and looked into Yamaguchi’s widened ones, both their mouths half open. The butterflies in his stomach had stopped fluttering around and instead had become an heavyweight sinking down. They splashed, sloshing around his insides, feeling sick he wondered if their friendship had been ruined forever. 

“Well that’s a problem,” Yamaguchi muttered after a minute passed in awkward silence.

Shouyou nodded, regretting everything that had led up to this point,“how long have you uhm liked Kei?” he asked, knowing that the two had been childhood friends, who had practically known each other forever.

Yamaguchi shrugged,“does it matter?” 

Shouyou cocked his head to the side,“why wouldn’t it matter?”

“Well you,” the brunet gestured at him,“once Tsukki knows you like him he’ll go for you for sure, you’re so talented and hardworking and--”

“You can’t just say that Tadashi!” he interrupted,“If you want the guy you gotta fight for him!”

The other man raised his eyebrow,“and what about our friendship?”

Shouyou stroked his chin,“this sounds like something only able to be solved by some alcohol.”

“It’s only three pm.”

“And our friendship depends on our next answers.”

“You know what, you’re right let's drink something strong.”

“I still got the vodka that Lev got from Russia.”

Yamaguchi clapped his hands, rubbing them together,“that will do just fine.”

Exactly thirty three minutes and twenty seven seconds later the two men laid on Shouyou’s bed. The alcohol streaming through their veins, leaving them buzzing wanting more, it was pleasant in this state of in-betweenness where they weren’t full out drunk yet but weren’t sober either, carefully threading the line between the two as all the answers to their problems would hopefully reveal themselves.

“So what shall we do about our current predicament?” 

“Predicament is such a big word but situation is as well, what is a smaller word for those two words Tadashi?”

“Dilemma?”

“No that’s still too big.”

“Circumstances?”

“That’s even bigger.”

“Maybe there’s only big words because this is such a big mess.”

“Woah that’s deep.”

The two men giggled, maybe they were more drunk than sober but the answers of the universe were so close, they just had to reach out and grab them. “What if we just both confess to Kei?”

“Well Tsukki likes to run away from problems so he’ll avoid us until we’re over our feelings.”

“That’s impossible. That guy is like woah from his height, to his face and blond blond hair--”

“--to his tattoos, piercings and muscles--”

“--yeah his forearms are so hot, they make me all huwhahh hot--”

“--honestly especially when he rolls up his sleeve and his tattoo peaks out a little--”

“--oof that tattoo, when he wears that tight black shirt--”

“--damn right when he wears that tight black shirt.”

They both sighed in unison imagining the blond in his tight button up black shirt with its sleeves rolled up and his tattoo. “What is he so freaking hot?” Shouyou asked.

“I don’t know but my legs are wide open for that!” Yamaguchi snorted.

Shouyou smiled at that,“same, I’m like a gymnast out here.”

They were both caught up in different fantasies of the blond that were rather tame as no unwanted friends made themselves known. “What are we going to do about this though?” Yamaguchi asked, tracing crescent moons in the air with his finger.

Shouyou remained silent, he turned on his side watching Yamaguchi. The other man had come a long way from high school, Shouyou still remembered how shy the other man used to be. But he had really grown into his own skin and was super duper cool now, with his many tattoos and piercings that he wore confidently. He grabbed Yamaguchi’s hand in his own and played with the black ring that adorned his middle finger. It also didn’t help how good of a photographer the other man was able to find beauty anywhere. While Yamaguchi was busy comparing himself to Shouyou the redhead was doing the same in turn.

“What if we do something like a bet?” 

“A bet? How would that even work?”

“Well we each get like a month to win him over, and if it happens in that period it happens if it doesn’t it doesn’t.”

“Oh my god Shou! You’re a genius!” Yamaguchi sat up straight, taking his hand out of Shouyou's grip, he held both his hands out in front of him as the room had begun to sway a little. “And Tsukki will confess to the person he likes the most!”

“Yes that’s fair!”

Yamaguchi narrowed his eyes after a moment,“a month isn’t long enough, what about like a year?”

“A year?”

“Yes! Because who knows for how long you guys are going to stay in New York or where else our jobs will take us so a year is fair.” 

“Yes that’s fair, gwahh can’t believe this is happening.”

“May the best man win!”

“May the best man win!” 

* * *

A week had passed since the “bet” was made, and the band had arrived in New York. Shouyou never really traveled as a kid the furthest his family would go was to the beach so to be able to just travel when he wanted blew his mind. He was actually able to afford travelling with his entire family or alone, it was great. Looking at all the different places he could go he mentally started to compile a list of all the places he wanted to go to, as for now his schedule was too busy to permit it, but hopefully in the future he would be able to just go wherever whenever he wanted to.

Shouyou grew up in a small town so moving to LA was already a cultural shock, New York was something else though with its buildings that touched the sky and disappeared into the clouds. New York was so different from LA, sure Shouyou knew the two were big cities who had a lot of differences yet it was weird seeing it in person, for LA seemed so laid back while New York was fast paced, the people seemed to have not enough time for anything, rushing from one place to the next an endless cycle. He felt weird seeing how accurately some movies portrayed both cities and wondered if it was maybe because he still wasn’t used to the city life. 

The band walked on Broadway, Tsukishima at the front with his headphones on, while Kuroo, Bokuto and Akaashi seemed in deep conversation. Lev was trailing behind the group busy talking to somebody on his phone. Shouyou would have usually fluttered from one person to the next, today however his eyes were wide as he stared at the many different lights and billboards, they entered the theater and he let out a gasp looking at the sheer size of it all. No matter how many concerts the band did and how many people came to watch them the size of everything never truly hit him. He felt a massive amount of respect for the theater stars who performed every single night, who were able to see first hand how many red seats had been filled and how many hadn’t. He was excited for the next chapter of the band and hoped the music they would help write and produce would also be able to fill all these seats up with people. 

“You’ll catch flies if you keep your mouth open like that,” a familiar voice snarked from behind him.

“Don’t be salty Tsukki, just ‘cause you can’t get excited over anything doesn’t mean you should rain over Shrimpy’s parade!” Kuroo smirked. 

Tsukishima rolled his eyes,“don’t call me that.”

“Oh did that hit a nerve with you?” Bokuto joined in, swinging his arm over Kuroo’s shoulders.

Normally Shouyou would have taken offense with being called Shrimpy, he also might have defended Tsukishima but right now he was too busy freaking out over the theater. “Gwahh can you guys believe it? We are actually here on Broadway! This is Broadway, I’ve never done anything with theatre before so this is going to be so cool. It is totally going to be like fwaahh! Are you excited to be here Keiji since you have done theatre before?”

Keiji Akaashi was a man of many talents, not only was he a member of the band but he was also a model and an actor, who had starred in many tv shows and movies and even some plays, Shouyou couldn’t recall if the man actually had ever performed on Broadway. 

Akaashi nodded a small smile on his face but remained silent. 

“What about you Kei?” Shoyou asked, looking at the taller man’s reaction who looked indifferent, he knew he was playing dirty by getting closer to the blond while Yamaguchi was on the other side of the country, but like the saying goes everything was fair in the war for love, or well he thought that’s how the saying went. 

Tsukishima just shrugged his eyes narrowing as he pointed at one of the actors who had come out for the last rehearsal before opening night. "Who is that?" he asked.

Shouyou squinted, seeing familiar blue eyes and black hair that he grew up watching,“Oh that’s Tobio Kageyama, he was a child star I actually watched some of his shows. Did you know they call him King?" He didn't give the blond any time to answer as he prattled on,"because according to rumors he is very high maintenance and therefore Hollywood doesn’t want him anymore, so he does theatre. He even looks mean, you should stay away from him,” he warned, quickly turning his head away as he felt blue eyes on them, that guy definitely killed somebody at least once in his life.

An unfamiliar look crossed Tsukishima’s eyes, if Shouyou had just been paying attention right there right then, a lot of complicated emotions could have been avoided. Alas, his attention had shifted from Tobio Kageyama and he had been too busy gawking at the ceiling wondering how they changed the light bulbs, because surely there was no way in hell that there was a ladder that could reach that high, or was there? No he would have known about something so tall for sure, maybe they taped multiple ladders together? Or they had a super tall person like Lev stand on like two maybe three ladders.

Turning around to ask Tsukishima, who was one of the smartest person he knew, he was surprised to see him gone. Looking around the theater he saw that blond had walked over to Tobio Kageyama and seemed to provoke him as the King had a deep frown on his face, he just shrugged having enough faith in the blond not to get killed by Tobio. After all he still had to plan how to win the handsome tall blond over, besides Tsukishima loved to get a rise out of people, an annoying character trait that had slowly grown on Shouyou. _If only he had been paying attention_.


	2. Pretentious Much?

Tobio walked onto the stage looking at the empty red seats devoid of an audience. Butterflies fluttered around his stomach as he thought about the magic that would happen on stage, the acting, dancing, singing, how everything would just come together and be something beautiful. No matter how many shows he did this feeling that left him buzzing with anticipation and excitement would never leave him.

He took everything in ignoring the whispers behind him. Nothing could get him out of his element once he was in it, closing his eyes he enjoyed the peace he felt. It was the last rehearsal before opening night, nobody really knew how nervous the last rehearsals always made Tobio but the anxiety of it always kept him up at night for the last rehearsal meant that the show would actually happen and there was no room for mistakes or do overs. Opening his eyes he let out a wistful sigh, wishing it could have just been him and the stage, nothing more and nothing less, alas he shook his head at this notion, the beauty of theatre was supposed to be shared with the world.

Hearing giggling behind him he frowned, wondering if it was directed towards him, he was used to people talking behind his back but they’d never done it so openly in his hearing vicinity. Turning around he was ready to call some people out only to notice they weren't talking about him, he followed the finger of one of his fellow cast members who was pointing at six people in matching pastel coloured sweaters. His eyes were naturally drawn to a pair that was looking at him, feeling their gaze scrutinize him, he stared back at the short redhead and tall blond, the redhead turned around while the blond kept his gaze. Brown eyes met Tobio’s own blue ones, usually people would have looked away when he was staring at them instead this blond decided to meet him head on. Unfamiliar with this situation he quickly averted his eyes, feeling the urge to run away, maybe he could quickly go to the bathroom and splash some cold water on his face or better yet just go home where he was surrounded by himself and not people that hated his every move.

Biting his bottom lip he turned around, he would just quickly go to the bathroom and see from there what to do. Goosebumps arose on his arms, the temperature dropping around him as a tall shadow loomed over him. He briefly wondered if the light crew was adjusting the lights, quickly dismissing this as the shadow was tall and of somebody that had captivated the people around him. With slightly parted lips Tobio turned around, coming face to face with the tall blond who had been watching him. He clenched his jaw, squaring his shoulders in an effort to look less intimidated, the water he drank earlier causing havoc as the urge to vomit began to climb its way from the acidic depths of his stomach.

“What?” he barked out, voice too loud to be considered casual but too low to cause any alarm. 

“Pretentious much, _ King _ ?” the blond drew out in an accent he couldn’t place,“I didn’t know this stage was only reserved for you your majesty.”

The urge to vomit became greater as the blond smirked as if he could read Tobio's mind, could see the pain that stupid name caused him. In another lifetime Tobio might have been fanning over the blond’s appearance, who looked a bit familiar like Tobio had seen him before somewhere. He would have fanned over the man’s wavy blond locks to his golden eyes, his jawline that could cut through steel, and the way his black studs gave him a dangerous edge, even though the pastel purple sweater he had been wearing should have made him appear softer. In this lifetime Tobio was trying not to run away and scream stranger danger, for he was certain this man was a crazy serial killer, and that said a lot about Tobio's as his social skills and judgment of people's character was pretty much non-existent, often struggling to find out what people’s intentions were, whether those were good or bad, usually the intentions leaned more towards the latter and he was certain the blond fell into this category.

Tobio cleared his throat, frowning he looked at the blond, head tilting to the side,“are you even allowed to be here?”, that came out wrong, Tobio’s heartbeat increased as if he had run a marathon, the tall blond’s eyes shining with something he couldn’t place. This was very bad, he should have kept his mouth shut, the blond would kill him now. He was going to die on stage, which wasn’t bad. It was just a shame that he would die at the tender age of twenty one, still experiencing everything that came with being legal. 

“Oh my a King possessive over his castle?” the blond’s voice dropped into a husky whisper, too soft to hear for anybody else but them,“no wonder your servants avoid you.”

Balling his fists Tobio’s eyes flashed, this asshole didn’t even know anything and was making false assumptions. He was tempted to just grab the blond by the collar and punch him, but Tobio knew better, knew that there were consequences to his actions that could ruin his career through speculations because people were too damn nosy. So instead he stepped closer to the blond, looking up to look him in the eyes,“who the fuck do you think you are beanpole?” he hissed. 

The blond sighed as if he was bored eyeing Tobio’s fists he began to smirk again,“for all I have accomplished and the oh so great King Tobio Kageyama still doesn’t know who I am,” the blond tilted his head further up, dropping his gaze as Tobio couldn’t contain the shocked gasp that escaped his lips as the other man leaned in,“but then again what could a King so mighty as yourself want to do with a mere peasant like me.” 

“Stay away from me!” Tobio huffed pushing the man away, he noticed two figures approaching them that were also wearing pastel sweaters. He turned around and walked to the bathroom, heart beating erratically in his chest a rosy hue on his cheeks, the blond’s breath smelled like strawberries and something minty.

“Woah I can’t believe Third Gym is actually here, do you think they will watch us perform?” 

Tobio stopped in his tracks, the two people in front of him were background characters who he didn’t have any scenes with. He didn’t particularly care for them but the name Third Gym effectively stopped him in his tracks including his heart’s beating, all the oxygen left his body and he could just hear what the media would say if they found out he hadn’t recognized a member of the famous band. He closed his eyes trying to calm himself down, it didn’t help much as he kept on seeing the blond’s smirk,“Kei Tsukishima,” he whispered softly, somebody who he would go out of his own to avoid. It couldn’t be that hard since Tobio barely went to any big events, and for how long could the band truly stay in New York? Probably a week or two, he could avoid somebody for that long.

* * *

Kei stared at Tobio’s retreating back, he felt familiar slaps on his back and was met with some of the most obnoxious people he had ever met who he begrudgingly called his friends. 

“Woah Tsukki did you score some?” Bokuto asked.

Testurou smirked,“that scene looked so intense, some real tension there.”

“We sensed it all the way on the other side--”

“--so we had to come over and see it with our own eyes, who was behaving so inappropriate--” 

Kei held up his hand,“you guys should have just stayed there because nothing happened here.”

“Oya oya?”

“Oya oya oya?” 

“Did you hear that Kou?”

“I did Rou.”

“Lying to your elders is illegal Tsukki, remember your upbringing.”

“Don’t call me that,” Kei scoffed, rolling his eyes at the other two mens antics, how the hell were they older than him? And why the hell was he actually entertaining them?

“Tt,” Bokuto tutted,“your parents would be horrified with the lack of manners.”

“Did you guys want anything?” 

“It’s okay that you didn’t score Tsukki,” Kei sighed deeply as Kuroo once again ignored him.

“Yeah Tsukki! Tobio Kageyama is a tough guy.”

Kuroo nodded in agreement with the other man,“he is called King for a reason some people even go to the extreme of calling him the Ice King for he doesn’t warm up to anybody, _ ever _ .”

“Much less date them so it’s no problem if you didn’t score Kei you’re still a champion in our eyes.”

“Yes you are," Kuroo baby talked, squeezing his cheeks before Kei pushed him off wondering if he would get arrested if he killed these two for annoying him. Akaashi would probably help him if he asked nicely. 

Kei was busy thinking of how to get rid of the two when it hit him that he didn’t get what the two were referring to,“what the hell are you guys talking about that?”

“You trying to flirt with Tobio,” Bokuto answered, smiling widely as if it was the funniest thing ever. 

“And horribly failing at it.”

Kei didn’t know what was worse that these two idiots thought he had been flirting with the King or the fact that they implied he couldn’t score Tobio if he wanted to...which he didn’t. Why would anybody want to date somebody so up their high horse that they were ignorant towards the world around them? He simply remained silent as the two idiots kept on telling him how bad his flirting was even offering to give some tips. 

“Why the hell would you think I’d want  _ that _ ?” he snapped, face scrunched up in disgust just imagining what it would mean to be in a relationship with somebody that even Hollywood rejected. 

“Well why wouldn’t you?” Bokuto replied, playing with the owl necklace Akaashi had gotten him.

“Yeah with his big blue eyes and pouty lips, the dude is hot, it’s a fact.”

“There is a reason he is a model.”

“Looks don’t matter if there is no personality.”

“Well Tsukki,” Kuroo stroked his chin,“you can’t just describe yourself and think others are the same.”

“Ouch,” Bokuto winced,“did that hurt your feelings Tsukki?”

“No should it have?” 

“Well aren’t you just extra salty today, looks like somebody got rejected badly Kou.”

“Really badly.” 

“This is the origin of his villain story,” Kuroo boxed his hands together,“Kei Tsukishima a tall blond giant who can sing and play some instruments rejected by Tobio Kageyama an actor, model, singer, dancer, youngest EGOT winner ever.”

Kei sighed loudly turning around and walking away still hearing how the two went on and on about how awful he supposedly was at flirting. Mildly offended he decided to just give them the silent treatment and hope that that would give them the message to shut the fuck up. Passing by some actors who openly checked him out he wondered where the hell the rest of the band was. Maybe Akaashi had seen the opportunity to dip and just left, Kei wished he had done that. If he had the opportunity to leave he would have gone to the apartment he was renting and see how he could make it more comfortable, even after being in the band for almost six years and having blown up for three he still hadn’t adjusted to the amount of travelling they had to do. A part of him missed being able to see his family whenever and wherever he wanted to, now everything in his life felt so controlled. It didn’t help how there was no set time date for their time in New York, it could range from weeks to months.

It was times like this that Kei wished the band wasn’t as big as it was as he just wanted to explore the city and go to all the different museums. Knowing that he would have to wear a cap and sunglasses to blend in it with masses, the prospect of going out didn’t seem that appealing as there still was a risk that people would recognize him. Was it too much to ask to just be an observer, outsider to the fast paced lifestyle of New York, in hopes of getting hit with inspiration for new songs. 

“So what do you think Tsukki?” 

“What?” Kei asked as both men had stopped walking and looked expectantly at him.

“We just bet that there’s no way you can win him over.”

“Yeah like no way in hell.”

Kei blinked at them unimpressed he finally spotted Akaashi walking towards them. Having known Kuroo and Bokuto for as long as he had he knew that they weren’t serious about the bet as they would never intentionally play with somebody’s feelings like that. Sure they were idiots but they weren’t assholes which was somewhat admirable, if it weren’t for the fact that the evil bastards just wanted to provoke him into an outburst of some sorts, so Kei kept his face passive and listened to Akaashi who told them that they had to meet up with somebody.

Kei vowed to himself to avoid Tobio Kageyama like the plague for he had endured enough teasing in these last five minutes, no matter how much fun it had been to rile the King up.

* * *

Blinking tiredly Tobio grabbed his lunch bag out of the fridge, walking out of the break room where the rest of the cast usually had lunch. The last few months had been lonely but what else was new? The cast for this musical all pretty much already knew each other and everybody had some type of preconceived notion regarding him just like  _ Kei  _ from the band Third Gym had this morning. Notions Tobio tried so hard to prove wrong only to be hit with them in the face again, he had changed. 

In the beginning Tobio had wondered if he should just join his fellow cast members, they wouldn’t shun him if he didn’t let them, would they? Knowing his own social ineptness, he had talked about it with his friend and mentor Koushi Sugawara, a fellow actor and model, who had told him that most of the people in the cast and ensemble weren’t necessarily good people, and if Koushi said so it had to be true because Koushi was practically friends with everybody. So Tobio kept to himself like a lone wolf, he talked when spoken to and was friendly to all but friends with none, besides the backstage people, he was especially close to the people working in the sound department, but they were doing some last minute soundchecks so he doubted he could eat lunch with them.

A part of him was grateful for the alone time he could because the time he did spend with his fellow performers was rather tough as most people just liked the gossip about everybody. Tobio didn’t understand the point of gossiping, if you had a problem with somebody why wouldn’t you just say it to them? What’s the point of telling other people? He supposes that maybe why he was so lonely for his mindset seemed out of place here.

Shaking his head he continued his mindless wandering through the backrooms of the theater, a small room caught his eyes, the door open and its light on. Curiously he walked closer to it, peeking inside noticing how clean it was, there was a table with a mirror and some makeup products, a bucket filled with cleaning supplies, in the corner of the room there was a small table with two chairs. Tobio wondered whose dressing room this was. Who was important enough to have a whole dressing room for themselves so far removed from everybody else? 

“Can I help you?” a voice asked from behind him.

Fear ran through Tobio’s veins, clawing its way to his heart which had begun to race trying to outrun the claws, as he remembered the horrible encounter with a tall blond he had in the morning. Swallowing quickly a light blush dusted his cheeks, embarrassed to be caught peeking into somebody’s private dressing room,“I’m sorry,” he mumbled, turning around.

Eyes widening as he looked at the curly haired man in front of him. Kiyoomi Sakusa, one of the best vocalists/actors in the business who people described as a chameleon because of his uncanny ability to transform into the character he was playing, including the way he was able to change his voice and maintain it was absolutely crazy, people often spoke how the man could have become a voice actor but instead opted to become an actor. In Tobio’s eyes though the man was a singer who also happened to act for Sakusa’s vocal abilities were seriously good.

Tobio absolutely loved him in the movie Born Lucky where Sakusa played a man who worked hard to better the natural talent he was born with and even though he lost in the end he still got back up, the movie was inspiring and Tobio had been a fan of the man ever since. 

"I'm sorry," he whispered again, pretty sure his cheeks were a dark red, which just made him blush more making his cheeks redder,"I didn't know this was your place." He tightened the grip on his lunch bag ready to make a run for it when the other man cleared his throat.

"Why aren't you eating the food catered?" 

Tobio frowned, not understanding what could have prompted Kiyoomi to ask him that question, he loved to cook and preferred to eat healthy. There was also the fact that he had a somewhat complicated relationship with food. But instead of diving into that he just simply shrugged moving his shoulders up and down,"I like to cook." 

"Tobio Kageyama,"  _ the _ Kiyoomi Sakusa sounded his name out pointing at the one of the chairs pushed into the table. “Sit down.”

Tobio walked into the dressing room, pulling out the chair he sat down,"yes?" 

“What are you doing here?” 

“Uhm...you told me to sit down.”

Sakusa raised his eyebrow, pulling out his own lunch from the mini fridge that was behind the door,“no I meant what are you doing here?” he gestured around him,“on Broadway, limiting yourself to only theater.”

Tobio could feel his blood start to boil as he narrowed his eyes,“theater is harder than any movie or show I’ve ever been in, there are no redos here, only one chance and if you mess it up you mess it up,” he looked down at his lunchbox wondering if it would be rude if he stormed out and opted to eat outside. Absolutely hating it when people considered theatre easy or a lesser artform just because it wasn’t as easily accessible as movies and films and thus was less popular. 

Black eyes observed him before nodding,“theatre truly is one of the harder artforms out here, didn’t Wakatoshi Ushijima audition for your role?” 

Blinking Tobio wondered if this was Sakusa’s way of telling him he wasn’t good enough,“no he auditioned for the role that one new actor from France plays, but I don’t really know.” 

“Ah interesting, were you there for the audition? Did it look like Wakatoshi gave it his all?”

“Uhm yeah he looked really focused and committed.”

“Then how the hell did he not get the part?” 

Bouncing his leg up and down, Tobio wondered if the rumors that the two actors had been involved had some truth to them. Maybe they were like exes? What the hell was he supposed to do now? Nobody had given him any tips on how to deal with this, did he say Ushijima wasn’t the right fit for this play or did he say the other man sucked or had maybe a bad day. Would Sakusa be offended if he kept his mouth shut. “I don’t know,” he lamely answered, deeming it as one of the most safer options. 

Sakusa remained silent and Tobio didn’t say anything either, was this the time he was supposed to ask the list of questions Suga had given him to make friends more easily? Pursing his lips he unzipped his lunch bag taking out his lunchbox he put it down on the table, opened the lid and was greeted with the lunch he had made that morning, an avocado, pesto, tomato and mozzarella wrap. His mouth watered, before he dug into his food though he also took out the milk box he had packed and his pocket hand sanitizer. Pouring some of the clear liquid on the palm of his right hand he looked over at Sakusa who stared at him with shock.

“Do you want to use some sanitizer?”

Sakusa shook his head, a single sparkle in his eyes. Tobio paid it no mind going about rubbing the hand sanitizer on his hands until it had dried, he then put the straw through the milkbox and took a sip of the liquid enjoying the taste of milk. After a second or two he finally grabbed his wrap and dug in enjoying the different flavors that complemented each other so well. 

The other man ate his own lunch, from what Tobio could make out it was a salad of sorts. It was a comfortable silence and Tobio enjoyed himself. Once they both finished eating he sat there, pulling out his phone from his pocket he noticed he still had ten minutes left. Was this the time he started to ask questions? Maybe he should just leave, thank the other man for letting him join and just leave. Yes that is what Suga would do.

Before Tobio could put his plan into motion though Sakusa stared at him intensely,“I heard that you saw the preview of one of the songs of the autobiographical movie i’m in, what did you think of it?”

“Oh I thought you were better.” Tobio recalled watching the preview, he remembered feeling disappointed as he could see how Sakusa wasn’t giving his all for this role, the character Sakusa played was an opera singer who had to defeat all the odds yet Sakusa’s voice sounded off like he wasn’t giving his all during the songs which caused the song to sound weak. And Tobio could tell this wasn’t done intentionally to showcase the character’s coming growth; this was just pure laziness of the actor in front of him.

“Really? How come.”

“Well when you sing it doesn’t sound as good as in your other projects, like your voice is very versatile and you’re good at uhm fluctuating between notes going from high to low without overdoing it yet in this movie everything sounds forced which doesn’t do justice to your character and the man on who it’s based.”

Sakusa listened, nodding his head,“how do you think I should fix it?”

“Give it your all, and focus more on your articulation of uhm certain vowels, you sound like somebody at a karaoke bar who's trying to imitate a singer who they’ve never listened to.”

“I’ll work on it, but do tell me this, why didn’t you eat lunch with the rest of your cast?”

"There's too much unnecessary drama, I'm here to act, not gossip,” Tobio replied, for there really was way too much drama in the industry, people could be your friends one day and try to ruin you the next hour. 

Sakusa murmured something akin to agreement, too soft for Tobio to hear before asking,"what's your schedule like?" Tobio pulled out his phone showing it to Sakusa who hummed,“we’re shooting scenes for the movie here, so we could eat together during the duration of that, before and after the play if you’d like.”

Tobio nodded eagerly, the play he was in performed eight times in the week with having Mondays off, he would perform twice on Fridays, once at three o’clock and once at eight, the rest of the shows were all at seven. So Tobio was excited that he would have time to hangout with somebody before and after that, even possibly when he wasn’t on stage during the play itself.

Sakusa walked Tobio back to the theater where the performers would all go through their emergency signals to let the backstage people know if something weird was happening like their mic stopped working or costume came undone. Not everybody had arrived yet, so they made quiet conversation, a few people looked at Sakusa with awe.

Third Gym was sitting on the red chairs directly in front of the stage, the redhead who stared at Tobio in the morning was pointing at Sakusa with eyes wide. Sakusa ignored all the stares and excited mumbles regarding his presence, turning his complete focus on Tobio,“what’s your phone number?”

Tobio pulled out his phone, always forgetting his own number much to the annoyance of everybody as it always took him a good minute to pull up his own number because the letter T in his contacts was so damn low. He finally pulled out his number showing it proudly to Sakusa because he hadn’t taken as long as he usually did. 

Sakusa looked at the number entering it into his own phone sending Tobio a message,“just text me whenever,” turning around as the stage director started the roll call.

Tobio smiled a small smile as Sakusa walked away, he had actually made a friend today, none other than Kiyoomi Sakusa. He just couldn’t wait to tell Suga about this and how he did it all without the list. 

Feeling eyes on his back he looked at the pastel colour wearing group, golden eyes met this own and Tobio could feel a shudder running down his back as the other man smirked. Tobio knew that he was a dumbass and had no social skills whatsoever but that didn’t mean he couldn’t tell that Kei Tsukishima was trouble with a capital T, which Suga had told him meant that somebody was trouble but more intense. And Kei Tsukishima sure as hell looked intense. Closing his eyes Tobio just focused on the play and making sure he remembered all the different signals, still feeling the heavy weight of golden eyes on him.

* * *

“Woah Tsukki you’re already losing and that to Kiyoomi Sakusa,” Kuroo whispered into Kei’s ear leaning more into his personal space than necessary. “I mean I can’t blame the guy Kiyoomi Sakusa is talented.

Hinata who had been too busy gawking at the famous actor leaned over Kuroo to get closer to Kei as the actor’s name averted his attention from the actual actor to the conversation,“Kiyoomi is seriously talented I would die if he ever approached me.”

Bokuto who sat next to Kei,“yeah there is a reason that bastard beat me for the top three spot of best vocalists.” 

Akaashi patted Bokuto’s back,“he is really good though.”

Bokuto turned to look at his boyfriend unimpressed,“why do you love to hurt me with your words?” he whined as Akaashi just smiled causing Bokuto’s mood to lift up instantly. 

Kei rolled his eyes preparing for a lot of PDA, he should have sat next to Lev who sat next to Hinata, fast asleep in his chair. They all turned their attention to Kageyama and Sakusa, save for Akaashi and Bokuto who were too busy staring into each other’s eyes, Kei didn’t dare look where their hands were. Kuroo, Hinata and Kei watched Kageyama show Sakusa something on his phone, the latter who took note of it on his phone. 

“I bet they're dating!” Hinata declared startling Lev,“and they’re planning their date now.”

Kuroo nodded,“yeah Kiyoomi is probably seeing if Tobio’s schedule is clear or not.”

“Wait who's dating who?” Lev mumbled, wiping the drool from the corner of his mouth, Kei looked at him in disgust.

“Those two,” Hinata moved back into his seat. The redhead and Kuroo turned their attention to Lev explaining what they had just seen and making it seem like a scene from some romcom. Lev nodded excitedly asking more and more questions which caused the scene to just become more and more dramatic.

Kei tuned them all out focusing his attention on the people in front of him, while everybody was too preoccupied doing what they were he could see a small smile on the King’s face and frowned not knowing why. Maybe he shouldn’t avoid the other man like the plague, he could seek him out and tease him when the others were too busy like right now. 

Kei ignored the fact that he purposely wanted to rile up Tobio Kageyama, he didn’t think of the implications only focusing on what else he could say to the King that would make him angry enough to snap. Their eyes met and Kei smirked, Kageyama averted his eyes, jaw clenching. Heat pooled in Kei’s stomach and if he weren’t surrounded by his nosy band members sans Akaashi he would have probably laughed at the fact that he had gotten under the King’s skin without even opening his mouth. A wicked glint brightened his eyes, he could already sense how much he would enjoy his stay in New York.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was so much fun to write like I enjoyed myself and hope you guys enjoyed reading it. I hope the characters didn't seem to OOC but yeah it's hard to write about them grown up because for all that we do know about the characters there's so much we still don't if that makes sense...like y'all remember when we learned about Miwa ouch...but that's besides the point I just think Sakusa and Tobio would have a good friendship because even though Tobio's oblivious Sakusa is anything but so it would be fun to explore that dynamic. I also added the sparkle of approval because without it there can't be a friendship...I don't really have a writing schedule because of my other fic Baby Steps which y'all should check out but I think I'll update whenever I finish a chapter so it can range from an update within days apart or like a week if that makes sense...  
> *fun fact this fic's title is inspired by the song The Boy Is Mine by Brandy and Monica...Brandy released a new album and I'm just jamming like yeahh!!!  
> **do leave kudos and comments as they make my day like oof


	3. Oh It's On

Tadashi lazed on his bed, scrolling through his Instagram. It had been a hectic week with photoshoot after photoshoot. Sure he loved his job as a photographer but that didn’t mean he enjoyed the long hours that came with it, from taking the photos to editing them so that they fit his clients' visions. It also didn’t help that some people he had worked with were too demanding. 

This week had been filled with people who shot to fame without any prior modelling experience, people that relied on filters and whatnot for their Instagram feeds. It had been beyond annoying as these were the type of people that wouldn't let him do his job, budging it every second so they looked good. Tadashi seriously hated his job at times like this but he couldn't always go out into the wild and find beauty where people wouldn't look.

Shaking his head he hoped to shake off all the negative vibes this week had brought. He continued scrolling noticing how a certain redhead had posted something on his spam account. Tadashi was prepared for something stupid like the time Hinata had felt the need to document his cooking adventures. The man was a decent cook but his dishes often were often deceiving, as they looked like one thing, smelled like another and tasted like something else entirely. One time the man had been trying to cook spaghetti and meatballs, a recipe he found on the internet, the dish smelled like tomato soup and garlic bread, it somehow managed to taste like bruschetta. It had been an experience, not necessarily a bad one but eating Hinata’s food was a rollercoaster ride. 

He clicked on Hinata’s post, it was a collection of posts, the first one was a picture on Broadway, Tadashi swiped left to the next photo which was a photo with all the band members, he snorted as he looked at how everybody had worn matching pastel coloured sweaters. He swiped left again waiting for the video to load, sitting up on his bed he frowned bringing his phone closer to his face, to make sure his own two eyes weren’t deceiving him like this. The video was of Tsukishima and Hinata in an intense discussion clearly taken by somebody else. He swiped left again another video of Tsukishima and Hinata this time of them eating lunch and Tsukishima rolling his eyes at the redhead’s antics as Hinata’s cheeks were stuffed with food. They almost looked like a couple on a date which made Tadashi’s heart drop.

Straightening his back, he mentally prepared himself for battle, silver armor got up from his bed, knowing exactly what the other man was doing and if Hinata wanted to play like this so could Tadashi. Walking over to his desk, Tadashi opened his laptop scrolling through the many email inquiries regarding his prices and availability. Normally he would have opened each email and replied but today he was on a very specific mission. Eyes scanning the header of each email, a few weeks ago he had gotten an inquiry about a job in New York and with the way Hinata was playing, Tadashi knew he had to accept it if he wanted to win Tsukki over. 

Kei Tsukishima, his best friend of many years who he had been hopelessly pining after for an embarrassingly long time. But in his defense there just seemed room for more between the two. Like how he was the only one allowed to call him Tsukki when the blond went through a phase where he made everybody call him by his last name because giving his first name was too personal. It was crazy that people actually listened to the blond so that through elementary and middle school Kei was Tsukishima. 

Tadashi smiled at the memory looking back on he was just as crazy as everybody else for calling the boy Tsukki for so long. The nickname had slipped out once and Tadashi was certain their friendship would end because the blond was very adamant with the last name thing, except none of that happened and Tadashi was given exclusive rights to the calling him Tsukki. Something he prided himself on even becoming somewhat possessive of the nickname, which wouldn’t be bad if it weren’t for the fact that Tsukki and him were just best friends, nothing more, nothing less. 

Shaking his head Tadashi focused on the task ahead, he finally found the email after a lot of scrolling, clicking his tongue as he opened it, noting down the number of the modelling agency on his phone. He made sure he entered the correct number giving himself five minutes to calm down and be his best self so he could charm the agency over. They wanted to work with him on a one year contract. When he had first read the email and the contract he wondered if the job was worth a whole year of his life with staying in New York which would mean he’d have to give up certain aspects of his life in LA. But Tadashi would not lose to Hinata and he always was up for an adventure, so he controlled his breathing because he got this. 

“Lets do this," he muttered pressing the green call button. 

* * *

New York was something else Shouyou had decided early on, the band had only been in New York for a month and already the redhead had met quite the unsavory people. He noticed that some stereotypes regarding the city were true which left him wondering if people could tell he was from L.A.

The band was still adjusting to theatre and seeing how everything came together on the stage to form a whole story, from the songs to the visuals and choreography, it was fun as they got to see different shows. The band went quite a few times to the show Tobio Kageyama was in, and everytime Shouyou had noticed how all the band members were immersed with the play, even Tsukishima was more reactive! That was a huge feat as the blond never let his emotions slip but during that play he was like a kid who had gotten his favorite candy, eyes never leaving the stage always so focused, the redhead only stared at him partially throughout the show.

Sighing Shouyou shook himself out of this stupor, he needed to do something or he would die out of boredom, sucking the bubblegum flavor of his gum he looked at the boring meeting room he was in. He hated this part of his job, the meetings where they discussed all the legalities of things and everybody had to be present because legal stuff... Even though the meeting ended the left over boredom was infiltrating all his senses causing his energy levels to lower down, causing him to laze around in the chair not feeling like getting up.

Drumming his fingers on the table Shouyou chewed the gum in his mouth as he looked around the room eyes zeroing in at a certain blond who somehow always managed to sneak into his head, arguing loudly with _the_ Tobio Kageyama, who looked angry, blue eyes narrowed and fists balled to his sides.

'Finally some excitement,' he thought.

Shouyou felt bad for Kageyama because the man had accidentally walked into the meeting room right when everything finished up because he thought it was the lunchroom but instead of finding food the poor man found Tsukishima who didn’t hesitate to rile him up. Chewing his gum Shouyou wondered who would win in a fist fight between the two, he felt like they would be closely matched but Tsukishima would come out triumphant as the blond analyzed everything and the brunet seemed to be more reliant on his emotions. 

Tsukishima made a few more comments, leaning in close to Kageyama who blushed and spluttered something eyebrows furrowed into a deep scowl. The blond threw his head back and laughed walking away out of the room, probably to join the others who were already outside debating where to go to for lunch. The redhead didn’t join them yet because he had questions for Kageyama. Getting up from his chair, he headed towards the brunet who seemed to be still seething with anger if the dark red blush on his cheeks was anything to go by. In another life Shouyou might have felt some pity for Kageyama because Tsukishima truly was hard to argue with but there was something so satisfying about watching the blond in his element using words as his shield and sword, piercing people where he knew it would hurt just enough for them to remember him but nothing too drastic. 

Standing still in front of the brunet, he asked the question that had been bugging him lately,"why do you make Kei so angry?" Kageyama flinched clearly startled before shooting him a murderous look. Under normal circumstances Shouyou might have cowered in fear but his competitive spirit was dictating his actions so he just waved the bad energy surrounding the brunet away,"I mean sure he is an asshole but nobody makes him as angry as you," which was a fact because Tsukishima seemingly lived to rile Kageyama, the temperature actually dropped when those two were in the same room. 

"How is it my fault that he is angry at my existence?!" Kageyama snapped.

Shouyou nodded because it was a fair point,"thank God you weren't in our high school. I bet you two would have killed each other," he blurted out not really thinking about his words.

Kageyama looked at him before looking away then looking back at him again,"huh?"

Blinking Shouyou looked at the King who didn't seem that intimidating up close, like yeah he was still frowning but he wasn’t _that_ scary probably just had a default resting face. Having many friends that looked scary from a distance but were sweethearts, Shouyou decided not to judge Kageyama based on his face,"I really can't see you two getting along any time soon," he said in all honesty, because the idea of those two getting along just seemed absurd to him.

Kageyama frowned deeply,"I mind my own business, _he_ disturbs me for no reason," which was true as Tsukishima did go out of his way to annoy Kageyama calling him names and stuff, real immature stuff and that was coming from Shouyou himself often called the baby of the group when he wasn’t even the youngest! Besides Lev was totally more of a baby but that was irrelevant. 

Humming he tapped the bottom of his chin before a brilliant idea presented itself in front of him, blue eyes watching him intently,"you know what you need?"

"No?"

"Friends," smacking his gum obnoxiously Shouyou pulled out the packet from his yellow hoodie’s pocket,“want one?” this is how everybody made friends, sharing gum, sometimes Shouyou’s own brain amazed him. 

Looking at him warily Kageyama stuffed his own black sweatpants pockets, shaking his head dark locks swaying side to side,“no,” after a moment of silence,“thanks,” he said awkwardly. 

Shrugging, Shouyou put the packet back into his pocket, not deterred with the other man’s refusal, instead he blew his gum into a bubble, letting the pink bubble rest for a bit until he sucked in air watching it deflate. Kageyama just looked at him in disgust, which Shouyou was used to as Tsukishima basically did the same, it was quite funny how Kageyama’s disgusted face resembled Tsukishima’s since those two both hated each other, and would probably change themselves if they were ever compared to each other. He remembers reading somewhere that you start picking up traits from the people you spend most of your time with. The red head scrunched his nose at this, because how much did those two interact? Clearing his head he reasoned why Kageyama needed friends,“see the reason you’re an easy target for Kei is because you are almost always alone because you don’t have friends--”

“Ha?! I do have friends!” Kageyama yelled clearly offended.

“Yes but not here because you're always alone which just makes it easier for Kei to tease you, remember the first week we were here?” 

Kageyama raised his eyebrow,“yes?” 

“So then you’ll remember Kei avoided you like the plague because you were always with the one and only Kiyoomi Sakusa?” 

Kageyama nodded,“Kiyoomi and I are friends, but he isn’t filming in this theater anymore.”

“Woah you are actually friends?”

“Yes I just said that.”

“Just friends?”

Kageyama frowned,“yes that's what I just said.”

“Yes. So friends?”

“Huh?” 

Shouyou had noticed that Kageyama didn’t have many emotions besides being angry or confused,“do you wanna be my friend?”

“Why?”

“Because I’m cool and probably going to be your competition on the runway,” Shouyou had gotten some modelling offers and couldn’t wait to enter the world of fashion. And since Kageyama was one of the best models ever there was going to be some competition.

“You’re going to be a model?!” Kageyama asked incredulously as if Shouyou would lie about something like that. 

Obviously feeling offended, Shouyou pushed his chest forward, standing on his tippy-toes to see eye to eye with Kageyama,“you got a problem with that.”

Kageyama looked him up and down,“you have no grace,” he mumbled.

“Just because I’m short--wait what?” Usually when Shouyou mentioned thinking about modelling people would hit him with his height, sure he was a bit on the shorter side but that had nothing to do with his modelling abilities. 

Kageyama raised his eyebrow,“the modelling industry is becoming more inclusive but the most important thing about being a model is being able to grab the attention of everybody in the room and to direct it to the product you’re trying to sell, which you don’t have.”

“Wha?!” Shouyou was dumbfounded, the other man was so blunt while helpful? It was too confusing,“well what does that have to do with grace?”

“You’re a dumbass,” the other man sighed loudly causing Shouyou to chew his gum with his mouth open trying to come up with a response, Kageyama once again looked at him with disgust but continued his explanation,“grace is what will cause all the eyes to look at you because of the way you carry yourself so differently with something uhm--,” pursing his lips together a deep frown made its way on the brunet’s face as he clearly tried to think of the right word,“it just makes you seem...better.”

Scratching his cheeks Shouyou closed his mouth, processing what Kageyama had told him,“so how do I get grace?” 

Kageyama’s lips turned downwards, shrugging he just shook his head,“practice but with your severe lack of it it’s going to take ages.”

Narrowing his eyes determination flowed through his veins igniting him to do better, Shouyou squared his shoulders, and walked forwards doing his best impression of what a catwalk should look like, his hips swaying, lips pucker, he walked towards the door twirled and the walked back to Kageyama who looked...less than impressed. 

Shaking his head Kageyama muttered something underneath his breath,“you’re really bad, look this is how you do it.”

Kageyama slightly narrowed his eyes, he started walking keeping his shoulder back, his hips forward and feet straight, legs crossing in front of him, his arms moved slightly back and forwards so they didn’t look stiff but weren’t distracting either, overall he looked like he was gliding and Shouyou couldn’t tear his eyes away from the other man, he understood what Kageyama was trying to say with having grace as the brunet looked like god who had come to visit the mortals, drawing everybody in to bow down and pray to him. Manipulating the room’s atmosphere to revolve around him. Even Kageyama’s twirl was better than Shouyou’s body completely relaxed shifting the attention to where he wanted to which were his sweatpants. He then walked back, still as professional as ever

Shouyou pouted his walk that had felt good, looked like trash. He wondered if Natsu, his younger sister, a fashion icon in the making had lied to him when she said he was good. Stupid Kageyama for making worry so much like geez he got it the brunet was a super model who could also sing, dance, act. Like what did he get out of being so talented maybe Tsukishima was rig--

“--so give me your phone,” Kageyama held his hand out.

“What?” Shouyou gaped, totally not having heard a word leaving the other man’s mouth causing him to warily eye the stretched out hand in front of him. He couldn’t even find comfort in his gum because it had lost all flavor and was getting kind of hard.

“You’re bad like really bad but you have potential so give me your phone number so I can help you,” Kageyama deadpanned as if he had been suffering. 

“Gwah?!” Shouyou yelled his gum falling out of his mouth on the grey carpet that was covered with weird stains,“you wanna help me? But I’m going to be your competition.”

“Not with that walk you’re not,” the brunet snorted.

“Oh my god that woah oh my whaaa. Okay,” Shouyou pulled out his phone unlocking it going to his contacts, he saw that Yamaguchi had messaged him quite a few times and wondered what that was about. Kageyama inserted his number and sent a text.

Shouyou was about to say something when a cough caused him to turn around and look, his heart skipped a beat as he saw a familiar blond looking at him (even though said so blond made a face of disapproval that screamed why are you getting closer to my enemy).

“We picked a place to eat, so hurry up or I’ll leave you here,” Tsukishima didn’t even look at Kageyama, eyes focused only on the phone in the brunet’s hands who wordlessly passed it back to Shouyou. 

“Ughh!” Shouyou groaned, knowing Tsukishima would actually leave without him which meant he couldn’t practice his walk anymore with Kageyama, he grabbed his phone putting into his hoodie’s pocket while grabbing an empty gum wrapper in which he picked up his fallen gum, even though he didn’t look at the men in the room he could feel their glares filled with disgust, as if they had never dropped gum before. Shaking his head he threw the wrapper in the trashcan near the door turning around to wave at Kageyama,“I’ll text you, bye!”

Tsukishima rolled his eyes, using long strides to get out of the theater, Shouyou happily skipped along, in a good mood because he knew that Kageyama, an actual supermodel, saw potential in him. One day he would have a catwalk as good as Kageyama’s, no even better! Humming underneath his breath he almost fell when Tsukishima abruptly stopped.

“What happened back there?”

Shouyou frowned confused,“what happened where?”

Sighing Tsukishima pinched the bridge of his nose,“you and the King.”

“Oh,” Shouyou tapped his head,“we’re friends now so you can’t bully him because he is my friend which means that it would be rude if you bullied him.”

Tsukishima blinked, clicking his tongue,“tch, by the way since you haven’t responded to any of Tadashi’s messages since the morning I texted your address to him.”

“Why?” What could Yamaguchi possibly want with his address. 

Tsukishima raised an eyebrow,“because he is coming to New York and moving in with you he told me you already knew this when I offered for him to stay with me.”

Shouyou’s eyes widened, he giggled nervously,“oh yeah I forgot, you know how I am so forgetful. Where is everybody?”

“They went ahead.”

“Aww Kei you waited for me.”

“No I didn’t I had to pee and knowing your idiotic self I knew you wouldn’t find us, maybe I should have just left you with the King since you guys are so close,” the taller man mocked.

“Nah,” Shouyou sang,“you were worried for me, you care about me--”

“--no I don’t.”

“Yes you do the one and only really tall and blond Kei Tsukishima cares about me!”

Tsukishima didn’t bother to reply, pulling out his phone and AirPods putting them in. Shouyou smiled widely because the blond did care for him and this showed he did even if he denied it. He pulled out his own phone to see Yamaguchi’s text messages to see what was happening. 

**Tadashi** **🍟:** Shouyou pick up! I need to tell you something 

**Tadashi** **🍟:** hello??

 **Tadashi** **🍟:** are u busy or smthn???????

 **Tadashi** **🍟:** Shooooooo omfg!! 

**Tadashi** **🍟:** okay whatever so I got a job in NY and will join you guys in two weeks im staying 

with u even tho Tsukki offered for me to stay with him but that would be unfair so make room for me!!!

 **Tadashi** **🍟:** besides I’m going to win….

 **Me:** he’s mine and i got more than enough space thanks for not cheating you’re the best <3 <3

Shouyou was so busy texting he almost walked into a pole, before that could happen though, he was pulled aside by Tsukishima, stumbling over his feet and almost face planting which the blond didn’t let happen as he held on tightly. Heat rushed to Shouyou’s cheeks as Tsukishima let go,“you good?” he asked. 

Shouyou nodded, his arms warm where Tsukishima had held him. He wondered if the blond had felt the spark as well. 

Tsukishima muttered a soft,“be careful,” continuing towards the restaurant.

Shouyou's phone was still held tightly in his hand. He put it into his pocket, smiling to himself while humming a cheesy love song. There was absolutely no doubt in his mind that he would win this, Tsukishima would be his.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so oof this chapter was rather hard to write, I don't even know why tho but it just was....but that didn't stop me because I'm realllly excited for the next chapter as it is great in my completely unbiased opinion, like maybe not the writing but like the idea if that makes sense...I have it partially written as in a paragraph but it feels like it's going to be a long one so it might take me some time :/// but it's really important for me to alternate between the conquest Hinata and Yamaguchi have going one and Tsukishima and Kageyama being you know ;))))  
> *this chapter is unedited btw and there might be some changes over the next time period...  
> **I didn't know if I wanted Hinata to challenge Kags with modelling, acting, dancing, or singing but I decided modelling because I've been watching a lot of catwalk videos lately and realized a lot of models these days don't have good catwalks like the did back in the 90's with Naomi, Yasmeen etc so yeah, I also felt like it would be the best place for them to "compete" cuz the runway and all.  
> ***leave a comment and kudo cuz they do make my day like oof thank y'all for taking time out of your day to appreciate this trashhhhh  
> ****shameless self-advertisement: I wrote a Tsukikage one-shot recently called Change Is in the Air, which y'all should check out it's pretty alright...  
> *****I also made some collages for the fic so y'all should check them out because I am actually very proud of them like woah I did that: https://twitter.com/lvdm26/status/1290154775154061312?s=20


	4. Wait...Hold Up You Listen to My Music?

Kei had his white headphones on, a simple cap while he walked down the streets of New York, phone in his hand helping him with directions. Kei absolutely hated being famous, hated the attention and the scrutinizing that came with the job. That all being said he knew he had come far from his first year in high school where he let his anxieties dictate his actions, which basically meant that he kept his head high through the means of sniping words, cutting remarks so nobody could suspect anything, how he felt like he was drowning, every time more people showed up to watch the band. Keeping the judgement and inferiority he felt at bay, or well trying to keep them at bay which he obviously failed, he knew he had gotten better. These days he could actually admit his own worth, that the thoughts plaguing him in regards to his abilities weren’t true. Because he was _that_ good, Kei had proven it to himself and the world that yes, he might not be the very best but he was pretty good which should be acknowledged. 

However, like anything in life, this thought process fluctuated between good days and days where he relapsed. Today was one of those days, there was too much happening around him. Old insecurities crawled up from the depths of his mind about his upcoming photoshoot for Calvin Klein. He still had a month to prepare for it but all the phone calls were making him anxious. It also didn’t help that Yamaguchi and Hinata were very adamant about joining him, Kei logically knew his friends weren’t cruel enough to poke fun at him with the intent to hurt but there was also this lingering fear of what if. What if they decided that he wasn’t good enough? Or that he…

Shaking his head, Kei fixed the headphones on his ears not wanting to spiral down those thoughts, knowing how easy it was to lose control and hit rock bottom without anybody noticing. Licking his lips he tried to focus on the music blasting from his headphones. He really did try to focus but it was futile, the negative thoughts started again in his mind about the creativity block he was suffering from, the lack of motivation Kei had to work on his own personal EP and the band’s next album. His mind was blank, absolutely devoid of any creativity, just emptiness filled him up, with a big cloud of insecurities.

Many blank faces passed him mere shadows of people rushing to their next location as if they were running out of time, never hearing the phrase- ‘take it slow’. These were the times he missed his house in California where everything was more laid back, time was catching up to people over there. Instead like here, where people were desperately running after time in a futile effort to catch it, so they would be able to get more done. They reminded him of chickens running towards their own slaughter, too stupid to realize that instead of finding bliss they would only find pain. Draining was the only word he could use to describe it, he had naively thought that the change of environment would help him with his creativity, instead it appeared New York had drained him of everything.

He had just needed to get out of the penthouse that he was renting. Even though it was spacious enough he felt suffocated, unmotivated staring at the blank word documents in his iPad trying to write a new song. Then he had put all his technology away and opened a notebook wondering if it was because there were too many distractions on his iPad, but that didn’t work either, so he knew the objects he was working with weren’t at fault it was just his stupid brain. Whenever he felt like this in LA he would have just gone to the gym in his own house, where he could do whatever the hell he wanted without feeling like he was being judged. Alas, he wasn’t in LA and thus had to resort to the gym that most celebrities used in New York, where their privacy was one hundred percent guaranteed. Yachi, the band’s designer from their clothes to their covers, had recommended it and Kei knew the place would be good because Yachi knew what she was talking about. She had even called ahead letting Kei know there was an online registration possible, he literally only had to show his ID, get his gym ID and walk in.

That was exactly what he did, a few moments later he was in the gym, watching white clouds roll pass by huge tinted windows, giving him the privacy he needed. The gym was relatively empty, the busiest area being the treadmills and bikes. He thought back to his time in high school when he was a tall, scrawny kid who only exercised because he was forced to. But then that somehow all changed when he stumbled upon three guys practicing in the band room after school, and managed to befriend one, the other two were just tag-alongs. That escalated to becoming gym buddies with the weight lifter in the group, Kei in all honesty didn’t even know how that happened. He actually willingly joined Bokuto and somehow got into weights, Kei thought it had to do with how he could just immerse himself into music, drown the whole world out while doing something that felt productive enough to keep his anxieties at bay. But he couldn’t deny the fact that he liked the way being active made him take better care of his body.

Making his way over to the weights, he immediately stopped in his tracks when he saw the one and only Tobio Kageyama, in the middle of a stretch, the man’s back was straight as he was bent down, legs slightly apart, hands resting flat on the blue yoga mat underneath him. Swallowing Kei shook his head, trying to ignore the way Kageyama’s yoga pants clung to his thighs, he didn't know Kageyama was that flexible.

Kageyama’s blue eyes were closed, wearing airpods, in his own little bubble. Kei narrowed his eyes looking at the famous star, from the lack of sweat and color on the brunet’s skin, he guessed that Kageyama had just started his workout, or he speculated that the brunet was one of those annoying people who stayed unaffected through everything, even a tornado couldn’t cause a single hair to be out of place. Kei scrunched up his nose at this, ‘the oh so perfect King’ probably was one of those people. 

Purposefully he cleared his throat rather loudly, Kageyama’s eyes flew open, blue eyes met his own, body tense causing the yoga pants to really really just hug that ass, like damn, not that Kei would know that since he wasn't looking in that direction, like at all. Kageyama pulled himself up from the stretch, rolling his shoulders, keeping his back towards Kei. 

“No manners whatsoever King,” Kei drawled, eyes glaring holes into Kageyama’s back, intently watching his back muscles flex through the white tank top he was wearing. 

Fists balled Kageyama turned around,“don’t call me that,” he hissed out.

“What are you going to do about it?” Kei knew he shouldn’t provoke the other man but he just didn’t care, Kageyama was just so easy to rile up. It was cute how hard the other man tried to keep control over the situation. Just plain adorable how Kei snatched that control so easily, and they both knew it. 

Clenching his jaw, Kageyama pressed against the buds in his ears, turning around to walk away. Kei squinted wondering what he was listening to which meant another good teasing opportunity,"my my my and here I was thinking the oh so great King Tobio Kageyama didn't listen to anything he didn't have to perform."

Kageyama remained silent in front of him as Kei circled him like a predator ready to pounce on its prey, golden eyes barely containing the wicked glint in them. Kageyama’s cheeks dusted a light pink which confused Kei since he hadn't said anything particular to embarrass or anger the other man. "What are you even listening to?" He asked out loud, honestly curious to what could have been this reaction invoking, a part of him also wanted to know what could possibly meet the no doubt impossible standards of Tobio Kageyama, the man probably listened to himself on repeat, which was fair because he was really good, not that Kei would admit that aloud anytime soon.

Kageyama's face became redder, his eyes widened impossibly wide, darting over to his phone that was resting on the blue mat, he was previously doing his stretches on, a mat that by luck happened to be closer to Kei. The brunet reached out for his phone but Kei was just a tad bit faster snatching it from the ground. Numerous remarks were ready to tease the other man and his highly probable pretentious taste in music, however they all died when he saw one of his own songs from his own _personal_ EP that he released a year ago, smirking back at him. Eyes slightly widening he tried to hide his shock behind a cough, exerting every bit of willpower he had not to blush at the fact that Tobio Kageyama, the youngest EGOT winner ever, a world renowned theatre star, was listening to his music, _his_ music Kei Tsukishima’s music, not the band’s music but his own individual music. The fight to stop the blush crawling from the depths of the hell seemed to be a losing battle, and the implications that came with the occasional backflip his heart made at the fact that he was being listened to by one of the best in the industry, made him want to both jump in the air out of joy and hide in a bush. 

"It's good," Kageyama whispered softly eyes downcasted,"your uhm...your uhm lyrics are really good and they have meaning while being uhm," Kageyama waved his hand around in the air trying his hardest to get his point across before sighing,"it's just good," he muttered. 

"I didn't think you'd listen to me,” Kei confessed, lost for words, he didn’t know how to deal with this.

“I also listen to the band I loved your guys' single A Murder of Crows, and...an...and your uh...solo in Hooked Forever with you know the low note going high and the--," Kageyama bit his bottom lips, cheeks very red, Kei couldn’t help but think of how cute the other man looked, trying his hardest to compliment him.

“Well if you listen to us why didn’t you recognize us?” Kei asked, wanting the other man to look at him. A part of him felt guilty for the past couple of months where he had purposely riled the other man up, all for his own pleasure. The part of him that felt guilty became bigger coursing through his veins as he tried to think of something. What did you even say to somebody complimenting your work who you had been relentlessly ~~provoking~~ teasing for the last couple of weeks? Did you say sorry, thank you? Could you Google the answer? 

Swallowing Kei inhaled sharply, he was an adult and as an adult it wasn’t that hard to apologize, receive and return a compliment,“you really don’t seem like the person to listen to music for fun,” okay that wasn’t supposed to come out.

"Well you don't know me," Kageyama whispered, grabbing his phone out of Kei's hands, their hands brushed together, Kageyama’s hands soft clearly well taken care of opposed to Kei’s that were rough and calloused from all the instruments he played. The moment was over too quickly, the brunet stepping to the side to walk around him. 

"Wait," Kei said before his brain could even register he did something. Kageyama stood still not looking back at him. Kei side-stepped so he once again stood in front of the other man,"you're right I don't know you," he admitted softly,"I'm uhm," he cleared his throat hoping the words would just flow out easier that way,"I'm sorry," okay that wasn’t that hard, just the compliment now, a simple compliment that just wouldn't leave Kei’s mouth, which was obviously a sign that today wasn’t the day for compliments. 

Kageyama warily looked at him before nodding,"it's okay," he murmured. 

Kei didn't know what to do from here on, sure he could just leave it here and spend the rest of his days in New York amicably with Kageyama or he could actually maybe take a step forward to friendship. He swallowed the fear of rejection making him want to turn around and just return to his apartment,"what are you doing right now?"

"Working out?" Kageyama stated, gesturing at the gym with his arm, eyebrows scrunched up into a frown. 

Kei facepalmed maybe he should just return to being an asshole to preserve his own brain cells, he was already surrounded by idiots left and right. But nope apparently his brain had decided he should try to be a good human being so he sighed,"I meant after you finished working out,” hoping it didn’t come out too judgmental. 

"Oh," Kageyama looked at the ceiling, biting his bottom lip,"I am going to go home and take a shower and maybe try a new facemask."

Nodding Kei wondered what to do next, he could just say that sounded cool and call it a day but no once again his mouth didn't cooperate with his brain and he briefly wondered if this was a sign to leave the band because four out of the six members were absolute idiots which must have been rubbing off on him. “I have tickets to go to the AMNH--”

Kageyama nodded,“that’s...cool?”

Snorting Kei pushed his glasses up his nose, this was familiar, this was teasing and he could do that,“you have no idea what I’m talking about, do you?”

Frowning, Kageyama shook his head avoiding his eyes,“uh…..no.”

“So eloquent.”

“Yes very,” Kageyama huffed, crossing his arms.

Rolling his eyes Kei stepped closer to Kageyama,“well I have tickets to the American Museum of Natural History-- 

Snapping his fingers together, a small smile appeared on Kageyama’s face,“that’s the museum with the dinosaur exhibition, right?” 

Kei blinked utterly dumbfounded that Kageyama actually knew that before slowly nodding,“yeah that’s the museum, ever been?”

“No,” Kageyama shook his head,“I almost went once but uhm,” a crestfallen expression appeared on his face before quickly disappearing, making Kei wonder if he had seen it to begin with,“but yeah that didn’t happen.”

“Me neither, this will be my first time.” Kei was proud of himself, he had held up a conversation with the King without insulting him, this meant he didn’t have to go through with his original plan. But nope whatever force was up above had decided that Kei could not speak for himself anymore, almost as if he was a character in a story where he thought he had some semblance of freedom only to find out somebody else was writing his whole life. And before he could stop himself he blurted out,“wanna go to the museum with me?” 

“Why?” Kageyama asked, genuinely confused, cocking his head to the side,“you don’t like me.”

Shrugging Kei just gestured in the air, he didn’t know why he was doing what he was. He literally had no control over anything, maybe this was all the bad karma from his past lives that had accumulated and resulted into this exact moment. Probably, because Kei was an asshole in this life where most things were illegal, heavens know what he would have done when most illegal things were legal. “Well give me a reason not to dislike you anymore.” 

Kageyama slowly licked his lips,“okay, but I want to work out first _and_ go to my apartment to change my clothes.”

“Same.” 

“So how about this we both do our respective workouts for an hour and then we’ll meet near the front entrance.”

Nodding Kageyama, pointed at the time on his phone,”so we’re meeting back at the gym's entrance at ten?”

“Yeah.” 

“Okay.”

“Okay.”

They lingered around each other for a second or two, when Kei snapped out of it and walked over to the weights, he would definitely need the exercise now. If Kei’s eyes occasionally wandered to Kageyama who was doing something akin to yoga, Kei was just seeing what the other man was doing and definitely not staring at him, showing off his flexibility. 

* * *

The hour passed quickly, and before he could even register what was happening he was standing in front of the museum, Kageyama next to him. Both having gone to their apartments and meeting in front of the museum, in a change of clothing, Kei wearing a simple white hoodie with black ripped jeans and his timberlands. Kageyama putting a bit more effort into his outfit wearing a white hoodie crop top, only showing off his midriff, and black sweatpants, sunglasses on top of his nose, and white vans to finish his outfit off. 

“Wow King I’m humbled by the effort you put into your outfit,” Kei said, as they stood in the line behind a group of elementary school children, who were awfully loud, and too short to see their faces so unable to recognize them.

“My image is basically my career asshole.” 

“Ah,” Kei made a show of hitting his temple,“I forgot I was in the presence of the one and only Tobio Kageyama.”

Kageyama pushed his glasses upwards, on top of his head, pushing his bangs backwards,“you can just say if you want me to leave,” he said, shooting Kei a pointed look. 

Rolling his eyes Kei just clicked his tongue. They stood together in silence, the line moving extra slow. Kei didn’t know what it was about New York but people tended to recognize him less, it’s probably because he just looked like your average next door artist trying to make it. Pushing the sleeve of his hoodie upwards he scratched his forearm. 

Kageyama’s eyes widened pointing at his tattoo,“did it hurt?”

Kei scrunched up his nose; it had been one of his first tattoos and truthfully he didn’t remember if it had hurt. “I don’t remember to be honest.” The tattoo was pretty intricate for his first one, he had wanted it to be perfect, it was a note sheet with the notes from Clair de Lune the first piano piece that he learned, which had gotten him into music after watching his brother practicing it and attempting to do the same. The sheet was wrapped around a mic that had different instruments surrounding it, a piano, guitar, violin, flute, cello, all in order of which he learned first to last, leaving room for more.

“Oh. Okay, it’s nice.”

“Thank you, do you have any?”

Kageyama shook his head, eyes widening, holding his hands up,“no. No. No,” he said.

“Afraid of needles.”

Kageyama nodded,“yeah something like that.”

Kei knew he could tease Kageyama but decided against it. They were nearing the entrance, putting on his hood, he turned towards the brunet,“King put on your hood.”

Kageyama frowned but complied easily enough, sliding his sunglasses down and putting on his hood. Kei didn’t really wear glasses going upstage, it helped with the nerves, and also helped with him being able to remain somewhat lowkey with his prescription glasses on, a Clark Kent type of effect. He showed his tickets and they walked into the museum. 

Kageyama gasped as upon entry the first thing they saw were the skeletal remains of the dinosaur,“woah,” he whispered, taking off his sunglasses, craning his head to look at the sheer size of the skeletal remains.

“Dinosaurs are awesome,” Kei muttered looking at Kageyama whose eyes were sparkling looking at the fossil in front of him. 

“They’re so big, I can’t believe something this big used used to--you know.”

Kei did in fact know what Kageyama meant for he himself was speechless sometimes just thinking of the fact that these creatures used to actually exist. “Yeah, they’re great.”

More people seemed to enter, Kei didn’t wanna risk being spotted,“let’s move on,” he said, he knew there was a whole dinosaur exhibit where he could show off his knowledge instead of here in the open with people streaming in from all sides. 

Kageyama nodded, time flew by without realizing it, walking past different halls and exhibitions, Kei occasionally told Kageyama interesting facts about what they were looking at if he knew about it. He was surprised to say that he was actually enjoying his time with Kageyama. The other man was nothing like Kei expected him to be. When Kageyama was being just a normal human being he was actually fun to hang out...and it was _so_ easy being with Kageyama.

Kei clicked his tongue at this, just because he had spent the last what...grabbing his phone out of his pocket he was surprised to see two full hours passed. He had spent two hours with Kageyama keeping his riling up to a minimum.

Blue eyes met his own, an inquiring gaze in Kageyama’s deep blues, lips downfallen into a frown. Kei raised an eyebrow,“something wrong King?”

Kageyama’s frown deepened,“don’t call me that,” he bristled.

Rolling his eyes, Kei sighed,“okay, what’s the matter though?”

“Do you not want me here?”

This time Kei frowned looking at Kageyama. For somebody who was practically born into the industry there was something so painfully honest about Kageyama that just left Kei speechless. Didn’t the other man worry about repercussions? Had he become so good at blocking out the public that he just didn’t care? Always blunt and always straight to the point. 

“If I didn’t want you here, you would have known it.”

Kageyama seemed to think about what Kei said before nodding,“you ‘tched’,” he imitated clicking his tongue,“so I thought I did something.”

Technically Kageyama had done something, but Kei just shook his,“I was just thinking about how annoying it would be if the paparazzi found us.”

Kageyama scrunched up his nose, sticking out his tongue, in clear disgust,“uggh, I don’t like the paparazzi.”

Huffing out a laughter Kei nodded,“does anybody?”

“The magazines…” 

Eyes slightly widening behind his glasses Kei looked over at Kageyama who had a small smile playing around his lips. So the King was capable of making jokes. Kei felt like he was drinking from a fire hydrant, there was just too much information being thrown at him. Kageyama was so different from all the other people in Kei’s life but still so alike. He was quiet, but managed to draw people’s eyes to him naturally, on stage he was fully in his element with no doubts whatsoever...but off it he didn’t seem that sure of himself. Tobio Kageyama was truly a walking paradox, a puzzle that a small part of Kei wanted to solve. 

They started walking again heading to the Titanosaur exhibit, once they entered the darkened room Kageyama stopped walking. Even Kei stood beside him, taking in the one-hundred-twenty-two foot tall skeletal fossil of the dinosaur. Sure he had read about it and how it was discovered but it still amazed him. 

“Did you know at the time when it was discovered this species was so new that the paleontologist who discovered it hadn’t named it yet.”

Kageyama shook his head,“no, I didn’t know that.”

Kei looked up at the head of the Titanosaur, having to crane his neck to do so, Kageyama followed his gaze,“their scientific name is Patagotitan mayorum.”

Kageyama looked at him, blinking, looking down so he could hide his face behind his bangs,“what does that mean?”

“The Patago part of the name was named after the area in which the species was discovered which was Patagonia in Argentina, titan is from Greek mythology meaning strength and large size,” gesturing at the dinosaur Kei let the massive size of the beast speak for itself,“mayorum was inspired by the Mayo family’s name on whose ranch the fossil was excavated.”

“Uh,” Kageyama’s snapped his head back up, endless pools of blue drowning Kei, mouth opening and closing Kageyama seemed to be really going through something, before settling on his signature frown,“are you messing with me?”

“No?” 

Kageyama blinked, every time his blue eyes appeared they somehow managed to alternate between getting darker and lighter,“you know a lot about this don’t you?” he finally settled on as they walked out of the exhibit, a bunch of teenagers busy on their phones filing into the room, their teacher yelling at them to put away their phones. 

“Yeah. How come you don’t, weren’t you on like a history show?” Kei would do everything in his power to take this secret with him to the grave, but he knew all about Kageyama and the show In Between the Past and Present. He loved that show, had watched every episode religiously and may or may not have somewhat of a simple crush on the main character who just happened to be played by the one and only Tobio Kageyama, but that all was in the past and Kei’s crush was really nothing intense, it was more that he found Kageyama attractive, just a very _very_ pretty boy, yeah that was all. Also it was on the main character of the show who was nothing like Kageyama, or well that was what he told himself.

Kageyama nodded, brushing his bangs out of his eyes,“well I was but I barely remember anything, my memory is really bad. It's actually really sad, so whatever I did learn didn’t last long.”

“Oh, yeah that sucks.” They walked side by side, Kei occasionally pointing at an artifact which he knew about telling Kageyama random fun facts that he actually took in, and asked questions about. The atmosphere between them was calm just how it had been all day, the animosity they had seemed to have disappeared. Kei wanted to know more about Kageyama besides the scandals he had been in. “What about you?” he asked, as they walked in the hall of ocean life, looking at the big blue whale suspended from the ceiling.

“What about me?”

“Well what do you like besides your usual jobs?"

“Uhm,” Kageyama blinked, slowly licking his bottom lip,“I uh...I like--”

Kei could see Kageyama not being at ease with the question, so decided to change the topic, something he would not have done three months ago when he had first met Kageyama in January. Time truly does change things, or maybe it just had to do with the fact that Kei knew that the play Kageyama was starring in, which the band observed to better understand the different components of theatre was ending in two weeks. Which meant that he would never be able to tease Kageyama again, or well that was at least what he told himself. It was just for Kageyama’s reactions and to get under such a world renowned star's skin, not because he liked having Kageyama’s attention on him…definitely not that. He couldn’t stand the King...today was done out of pure boredom and because his friends were busy. Kei did not focus on all the unread messages of his band members and Yamaguchi asking him to come hang out. 

“Fun fact: did you know that the blue whale is the largest animal to ever exist?” he asked, pointing at the big blue whale suspended from the ceiling. 

Kageyama shook his head,“even bigger than the dinosaurs?”

“Uh huh,” Kei affirmed,“which is absolutely crazy with how dinosaurs are always portrayed.”

“That is crazy,” Kageyama agreed.

They made their way over to a stand that had this exact same information listed on it. Kageyama let out a small laugh, clearly not having realized he had done it, Kei looked at him in surprise. 

“Something funny?”

“Oh. No?”

“Okay, but if you do have something to say, please share it with the class.”

Nodding Kageyama, cutely scrunched up his nose,“I was just thinking how out of uh...element I am here, you already know so much,” he said, waving his hand around,“so I was just thinking if we went to a museum focused more on artwork I would have maybe been able to point things out to you.”

This information was new, but Kei was a bit desperate so he took what he could take,“is that so?”

“Yeah.” 

“Do you like art?” that was a really dumb question, Kei should really limit his time with certain people because he was honestly losing braincells. That was why he was enjoying Kageyama’s company and going through a creativity block, obviously he was losing brain cells. Because what kind of dumbass question was ‘do you like art’?! Of course Kageyama liked art he was a fucking Broadway star able to sing, dance, act and model. Do you like art? How fucking pathetic could Kei get?!

Kei was snapped out of his thoughts when Kageyama’s eyes began to shine,“yes, I love anything and everything to do with art. From you know what I already do to painting, drawing, sculpting it is so...it is just so...it’s like...woah...you know?”

Blinking, Kei was a bit shocked that Kageyama was able to speak more than one sentence at a time and actually rambled, it was ~~cute~~ unexpected,“do you do any of those?”

“I occasionally draw and paint, but I haven’t had the time to try sculpting yet. I do like looking at sculptures...it is so cool how real some look from back in the days...” Kageyama trailed off.

Kei knew the signs of a dying conversation, but he didn’t want this one to end. It was the first conversation in a while where the other people didn’t act weird around him,“will you do it after the play?” he asked, hoping it would be enough to keep Kageyama talking. 

“I don’t know yet.”

“Are you leaving New York, I heard rumours you’re starring in a new movie.”

Kageyama rolled his eyes,“no, I am sticking to theater for a bit longer before I throw myself to...to the...the--”

“--the piranhas?”

“Yes piranhas.” 

“That makes sense...do you already have another play in mind or…”

“No,” Kageyama shook his head,“nothing that is interesting...I’m probably going to wait and see.”

Kei nodded that was reasonable,“so.”

“So.”

“Yeah.” 

“Okay.”

God this was awkward, Kei broke the silence with another fact,“did you know a Blue Whale weighs one-hundred-seventy-three tonnes?” Kageyama shook his head,“that’s almost one hundred tonnes heavier than the Patagotitan mayorum we saw earlier.”

Genuinely surprised at this, Kageyama's eyes widened for a fraction of a second,“I can’t believe we’re alive while such,” gesturing at the whale, Kageyama waved his hand around. 

Kei found it amusing how limited Kageyama’s lexicon seemed to be,“yeah. I can’t believe we're alive when such a big animal is as well.”

“It would crush us.”

“It would.” 

Swallowing Kei looked at the lights in the ceiling,“wanna play a game?”

Kageyama eyed him suspiciously,“what kind of game?” the blue lights of the exhibition doing wonders for him, making him seem like an ancient being from the sea, to who songs were sung so that the waves would be in their favor. 

“I ask a question and you answer.”

"So you're just going to be the one asking me the questions?"

"Yes."

“In this game you’re the only who is going to be asking the question?”

Kei frowned, did Kageyama have hearing problems he didn’t know about? “Yes, that’s what I just said King.”

Kageyama scrunched up his name at the name but didn’t say anything about it,“that’s not fair,”

“Alright then what do you propose?”

“We both take turns, you go first.”

“I ask the question or answer it?”

“Answer my question.”

“I literally said so many things already though.”

“Which means you can say more. How old were you when you actually entered the music industry?”

Kei smirked,“so bossy, he said watching Kageyama roll his eyes not rising to the bait,“alright so I joined the band when I was sixteen,” which was when he officially entered the music world, not that he thought it would lead to much.

“I already knew that.”

“Ohh a fan,” Kei teased a small smile on his face as he recalls the fact that Kageyama actually is a fan (of his work).

“You’re an asshole.”

“It’s your turn., what’s your favorite drink?”

Kageyama bit his bottom lip,“my uh favorite drink is milk.”

"Milk?" Kei asked not really envisioning the other guy to like the drink so much. 

Kageyama nodded,“yes it is very good. Do you have any siblings?” 

“I have a brother, what about you?” Kei hoped he kept the disdain towards that question of his face, his relationship with his brother was still being rebuilt. There was just too much that had happened between them, that the healing process was still happening in stages, learning not only to forgive each other but also themselves. 

“A sister,” Kageyama answered, effectively pulling Kei out of the dark road his thoughts were headed to,“is your brother older or younger?” 

"Older, what about you?”

“Same...do you like kids?”

“I don’t mind them, what about you?”

"Depends on the kid, but I have a niece and she's the best, wanna see pictures?" Kageyama asked, excitedly pulling out his phone unlocking it, stopping his actions though when Kei didn’t respond. 

Quickly clearing his throat Kei nodded,“yeah, that would be nice,” not because he necessarily wanted to see Kageyama’s niece, but the excitement in those blue eyes was just too much.

Kei leaned down, Kageyama brought his phone closer, but Kei’s eyes weren’t focused on the different images. No, Kei was busy wondering if his eyes were deceiving him or not but Tobio Kageyama was smiling, actually smiling, alongside that there were actual dimples in the King’s cheeks. Two deep indents, that appeared while he scrolled through pictures of his niece. A little girl, with tan brown skin and curly black hair, brown eyes, their shape similar to Kageyama’s and dimples that looked just like the ones in the King’s cheeks. 

Swallowing Kei flicked his nose,“she is adorable,” he said. 

Nodding Kageyama closed his phone, putting it back into his pocket,“she is also really smart, she likes ballerina astronauts.”

Kei snorted at this,“does she want to become one?”

Tobio smiled,“yes, her tutu is all ready.”

“Sounds like you guys are close, how old is she?”

“She is three, and yes we're very close although I don’t get to see her often.”

“Oh. Why not?”

“My sister lives in Hawaii.”

Kei nodded,“do you go visit them?”

“Whenever my schedule allows for it.”

They went back and forth for a while and Kei discovered new things about his Royal Highness, even though Kageyama was of Japanese descent he didn’t really speak the language. He told Kei that when he did speak he had an accent, but he was able to understand it. Kei had asked if he was able to read it. Kageyama shook his head, he wasn’t able to read or write it. Kei also found out that Kageyama was surprisingly well educated on Native American History, telling Kei facts here and there. 

They grabbed lunch together, where Kei discovered Kageyama was quite particular about his food. Taking forever to order, mulling all the different dishes around in his head before settling for a few. He also found out Kageyama ordered all his food together so he could taste different dishes without being too full. Kei usually just ate in the order the food came, but this was quite fun. It also didn’t help that he was able to just eat his dessert in peace while also alternating between “real” food as Kuroo would say, who always gave him crap for not eating enough in their starters, and main course, but could Kei really be blames he was saving room for dessert? 

It was five o’clock when they decided to part ways Kageyama tugged the hem of his hoodie, eyes not meeting Kei’s own,“thank you for today.”

Kei swallowed,“no problem,” he murmured, hoping he hadn’t given himself away too much. He had fun, a lot of fun to be honest turns out Kageyama wasn’t as bad as he had initially thought and he wouldn’t mind doing this again. Yeah, he really wouldn’t mind doing this again. “So I have to go that way,” he pointed straight away.

Kageyama looked away, pouting a bit,“I gotta go the other way.”

“Oh.” 

“Yeah.” 

“Okay, see you.”

“Bye.” 

Kageyama waved at him, a small smile on his face, a flash of dimples on his face before he turned around and walked away, Kei took a step forward, sighing loudly while looking at Kageyama's retreating back. “King,” he called.

“Yes?” Kageyama asked, having stopped walking, looking over his shoulder at Kei. 

Kei jabbed his thumb at the other side of the street, to an ice cream shop,“wanna get some ice cream?”

Turning fully around, Kageyama brushed his dark locks out of his face, nodding slowly making his way over to Kei,“yeah ice cream sounds good.”

“Okay.”

“Okay.” 

They both kept their mouths shut even when they walked together a bit closer than they usually would have. And if Kei went back to his rented penthouse, he wouldn’t spend too much time thinking about how blue eyes as bottomless as the ocean, motivated him to write some music. It was all just a coincidence...the songs and melodies floating around his brain were about blue whales.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope this chapter was worth the wait, it was 6000+ words and probably would have been longer if I hadn't gotten lazy...I have never been to the AMNH so everything in here was from their website. He, I absolutely loved writing this chapter so and I hope everything doesn't feel like it's happening to fast. Like they're getting to know each other but already know about each other if that makes sense. I actually truly did enjoy writing this chapter, I hope you got the sense of awkwardness and content between them. Since uni started again idk how long it's going to take for me to finish the next chapter but I know it won't be this long, or well I don't think it will be but it still might take awhile because I got a shit ton of hw I'm procrastinating on. Also this is kind of important, I might change the ratings and tags so keep an eye on that...  
> *thank you so much for your kudos and comments they really helped me when I started feeling demotivated so please leave more :)  
> **I wrote another stand alone Tsukikage fix it's pretty funny if I do say so myself, like I was cracking up, you should check it out  
> ***Kags has dimples in all my works so yeah  
> ****your honor they are on date...(they just don't know it yet lmao)


	5. Lights, Camera and Stop That!

“God,” Tadashi’s hands were pressed together, head tilted upwards, looking at his popcorn ceiling,“if you help me get Kei I promise I will never be this desperate ever ever again.” Dark bags were underneath his eyes, looking over to his nightstand he saw that it was five am, way too early to wake up. Hearing Hinata sing loudly he groaned,“Shouyou please shut up!”

“Noooooo noooooo nooooo Tadashiiii is grumpyyyy because he has tooooo wake up earlyyy for Keiiiiii!”

“Shut up!” Tadashi grumbled, getting out of bed and heading to the bathroom to get ready. It wasn’t his fault that it was way too early to function, Tadashi’s brain usually started to work after twelve pm so having to wake up at five am for a photoshoot to support his best friend while trying to seduce him was not fun. 

Brushing his teeth he felt his eyelids grow heavy and seriously wondered if it was even worth going. If he didn’t go that meant Hinata would be able to carry out whatever he had come up with, and Tadashi had enough faith in Tsukishima not to fall for those tricks. Tadashi couldn’t even remember what the shoot was for. Making up his mouth he gurgled and spit the water out, opting to just send Kei a good luck message and sleep until one. Right when he opened the door he was met with Hinata wearing Calvin Klein boxers. 

“Do you think I should tell Kei I am wearing Calvin Klein boxers as support or let him find out himself,” he winked, before dashing out of the hallway into his room, locking it as Tadashi stared at him dumbfounded remembering the shoot Kei was doing. 

Kei Tsukishima, his childhood best friend of many years, who always had people chasing after him, who could have easily been categorized as one of the popular kids, but instead chose his, Tadashi’s nerdy freckled self to hangout with, while recovering from Akituru’s betrayal. That best friend had a Calvin Klein photoshoot today. Calvin Klein...an underwear brand that Tsukishima would be modelling...showing off his body, which had various tattoos on it...and his muscles, god his back muscles were just to die for. 

Turning around, he quickly entered back into the bathroom, turning the shower on. Once it had warmed up, he hopped underneath the warm stream of water, carefully avoiding his hair that had been washed the day before. Cupping the water from the showerhead in his hands, he closed his eyes, splashing the water on his face, letting the tip of his fingers linger on his eyelids just for a second before opening them. It was soothing, relaxing him as he grabbed his hydrating body wash that was allegedly supposed to smell like citrus and berries. Tadashi personally never smelled it on himself, but when Hinata used it because his own bar of soap had finished it was very noticeable. Leaving the body wash on for a few seconds he let the scent soak in, once he deemed it soaked in enough he washed it off slowly. Hoping Tsukishima would like his smell, letting himself enjoy a few minutes more of the hot water. The shower had been almost enough to let him forget about how early he had woken up. 

* * *

Shouyou’s eyes were wide as he took in the location of the photoshoot, it was truly nothing special but still it was cool to see where the magic would happen. There was plain white background, Tsukishima had explained to him and Yamaguchi that the actual photo for the campaign would be in black to white, much to both of their disappointment. Still it was nice that he got to see Tsukishima in just a tight fitting pair of boxers. Him and Yamaguchi were sitting behind the camera and the big flashing thing that reminded Shouyou of the lightning effect used in Hollywood in the olden days. They were close enough that they would be able to enjoy every minute of Tsukishima, but far enough not to disturb anybody. Yamaguchi was dozing off, slouched down in his chair, hands crossed over his stomach, head facing the ceiling.

Tsukishima, had been whisked away to the makeup room, to make him look more alive at six-thirty in the morning. Shouyou himself was used to getting up early, he had always been an early riser, in his younger years it was to watch Nick Jr, later on the habit just stuck. And even when he wanted to laze around in bed Shouyou found his eyes wide open. Lately he had taken it as a sign to work on his song writing, from their theatre project, most of the songs had been written by Kuroo, Akaashi and Tsukishima, while Lev, Bokuto and Shouyou helped with the production and the instrumentals. Figuring out how the songs would flow along with a sustainable rhythm that wouldn’t tire the actors out, was hard but fun, and Shouyou liked doing it. It was fun being part of the Flows Boys, it’s what they called themselves, having spent a whole day on the name. When they revealed it to the Writerzz (they came up with that name as well), Kuroo had been drinking and laughed so hard the liquid came out of his nose, Akaashi had laughed as well, but from everybody’s reaction Tsukishima had the best in Shouyou’s opinion, they blond had actually snorted, throwing his head back while laughing. He looked very carefree, that day and Shouyou knew he wanted to see Tsukishima more like that. 

“It’s another fifteen minutes before the actual shoot starts,” he heard Tsukishima’s voice from behind him. 

Startling him,“oh my god,” he whined,“you scared me!” Turning around he looked up at Tsukishima who was wearing a black robe that somehow managed to cover him up until his calves. Shouyou scrunched up his nose, how long was that thing? 

Yamaguchi stirred but kept his eyes closed.

Tsukishima chuckled,“my bad, anyways I just wanted to give you both--or eh well you since Tadashi looks dead, a heads up. Also here,” the blond handed Shouyou his phone,“keep my phone here.”

“Kei! Sabrina wants to just fix your hair a bit!” Somebody yelled. 

Tsukishima sighed, heading over towards the sounds, he left Shouyou one last warning though before he did so,“don’t go on my phone.”

“Yeah yeah yeah, I know,” Shouyou waved him off. 

“You better.” 

Shouyou rolled his eyes,“you’re like a dragon being so stingy with your phone.” 

“Then you’re a dwarf trying to steal it back?” 

“I’m not that short?” 

Rolling his eyes Tsukisima walked away,“it was a reference to the Hobbit smartass.”

“I watched the movie!”

“Yeah we are not having this conversation,” Tsukishima said, gone before Shouyou could even retort something.

Watching the blond’s back retreat, he sighed, turning around, looking down at Tsukishima’s phone in his hand. It was just laying there so innocently clearly begging to be used. Shouyou had known the blond long enough that he absolutely hated when people touched his stuff without permission, especially his phone, he didn’t know why but he had learned from last time. When the band without Akaashi had tried pranking Tsukishima by taking his phone, it epically backfired, the blond didn’t speak to them for two whole weeks and he made Shouyou, Kuroo, Bokuto and Lev buy him strawberry shortcake whenever he wanted to for a whole month! 

Hitting Yamaguchi on the shoulder he watched his friend startle awake, frowning. Yawning as he stretched his arms above his head,“did it start?” Yamaguchi asked, rubbing his eyes. It was funny how he could barely focus this early in the morning. 

“No.”

“Then please tell me why you woke me up?”

Shouyou eyed Tsukishima’s phone,“because of this.”

Yamaguchi followed his gaze,“don’t do something stupid.” 

“I won’t but still why Kei doesn't like people touching his phone? I get stuff but a phone is just...when we took it as a joke he just blew up why...and still I don’t know why...”

Yamaguchi sniffed,“I think it's more a privacy thing than anything else where he just doesn't want to deal with what people find.” 

“Oh like find bad or embarrassing stuff.”

Yamaguchi had a pensive look on his face,"more like private like a new song he might be working on or conversations between people, something like that rather than bad.”

Shouyou nodded,“that makes sense. It’s weird how busy he is these days.”

“I know right! He is on that stupid thing like 24/7.” 

“I heard it’s because he’s getting different types of job opportunities,” Shouyou himself was also swamped with phone calls, he was currently in the process of deciding which show to make a guest appearance on, he was debating between a cooking show and dancing one that were being held on the same day. 

“Same, it still sucks though. But it must be something very exciting because he always get this dorky smile on his face.”

“It’s such a cute smile.”

“Very cute.” They both frowned when the room became louder, different people entered Yamaguchi sighed,“it’s officially starting. I heard this photographer can be mean.”

Shouyou turned his gaze to the man, somebody shorter than him with dyed platinum blond hair,”he even looks mean,” he agreed, when the man turned around, stick thin eyebrows, drawn upwards. 

Tsukishima walked out, handing the robe to a girl whose hair was put up. He walked in front of the white screen, and both Yamaguchi and Hinata were suddenly very quiet, breathless almost as they observed their friend. They both knew Tsukishima had always been hot, but this was extreme even from him. His whole body looked like some god’s had carefully sculpted it, blessing humans with such beauty. There was a glitter type of paste put over his abs and back muscles that highlighted them. 

His tattoos popped against his pale skin, the colours on them looking very vibrant, Shouyou looked at Yamaguchi from the corner of his eye, watching the man narrow his eyes, tracing over a particular tattoo that curled around Tsukishima’s arm. It wasn't the biggest one Tsukishima had, or the one with the most detail, it was simple and sweet but Shouyou really could not remember ever seeing that one before. “That one is new,” Yamaguchi said voicing the same thoughts Shouyou had.

Shouyou tilted his head to the side, carefully watching it before nodding,“yeah, it’s new. What is it?”

“Looks like bones.”

“Another dinosaur?”

“Maybe, or…” Yamaguchi snapped his finger together,“whale bones! Remember that one documentary we all watched together it looks like one of those whale bones!”

Nodding Shouyou, remembered exactly what documentary Yamaguchi was talking about, Tsukishima had come over and said something along the lines that he enjoyed his visit to the AMNH, and couldn’t wait to do it again. “It’s probably a reference to his time in AMNH; he probably enjoyed it a lot or something.”

“Yeah, he lately has been obsessed with blue, I saw him go through different shades of blue, muttering to himself how they didn’t match.”

“Match what?”

“I don’t know?” Yamaguchi shrugged,“but it probably has to do with the ocean in one way or another...or maybe the sky because I can’t understand why else he would be so intent about finding the right shade of blue.”

“He submitted a song, something that had a blue theme to it, or well that’s what Akaashi told me, he wouldn’t say anything else.”

Before Yamaguchi could say anything else, the photographer flashed the camera, for some test shots, deeming them appropriate he started to give Tsukishima instructions, having the blond look straight into the camera. They took various pictures, Yamaguchi and Shouyou immensely enjoyed themselves. 

Tsukishima’s phone started to vibrate in Shouyou’s lap, picking it up he looked at the person calling, surprised to only see emojis 👑💎, Tsukishima usually put people’s first and last name, and for some people he didn’t even bother to save the number. Shouyou was about to pick up the phone when the person hung up, he pouted wanting to talk to this mystery person. Tilting the phone towards Yamaguchi he asked,“who do you think this could be?” 

Yamaguchi looked at the emoji, shaking his head when he wouldn't make sense of it,“I don’t know crown diamond?” 

“Maybe it’s somebody he is collaborating with for his ep!”

“Yeah like a rapper or upcoming artist.”

“Oh my god, yeah that makes so much sense!”

They were so caught up trying to decipher who the mystery person was that they didn’t see Tsukishima look angrily at them. “It’s weird that Tsukki’s phone is on vibrate though, it’s literally always on silent.”

“I bet this person is very demanding and that is why Kei needs to know exactly when they send him a message,” Shouyou said, already able to visualize somebody in a big fur coat with big sunglasses, diamonds adorning them, and a crown on top of their heads. The only person Shouyou knew who could pull this off was Kageyama, but he and Tsukishima didn’t like each other, much less text each other. Sure they had started to fight less, but they still fought, they just had to suck it up since Kageyama and Tsukishima worked in the same space on different projects. The band had rented out office work spaces in a building that was private from the public, even though it was near Times Square not many people thought ‘famous’ people would work in such an official fancy type of building. Shouyou had mentioned it to Kageyama who asked if they had an extra space since he was working on something confidential that he couldn't tell him about. Shouyou said yes, and that’s how Tsukishima and Kageyama had to share a space because there weren’t any single rooms left. Shouyou had gone only once, and those two had been arguing very loudly, since he didn’t want to die young Shouyou had just left without ever entering and seeing what they were fighting about. He didn't feel like standing in their crossfire instead retreated back to where he, Bokuto and Lev were. 

The photographer gasped, pulling both Shouyou and Tadashi’s attention back to the shoot, and Tsukishima who still looked like god. An angry god that was about to punish the humans by sending a natural disaster but a god no less. Following Tsukishima’s gaze to the phone in his hand Shouyou gulped,“oh no,” he muttered.

“He looks angry.”

“This is the photo Kei! Woah never...I am absolutely speechless--”

The photographer kept on rambling while Yamaguchi and Shouyou planned their escape,“maybe if we throw the phone at him, he’ll catch it rather than yell at us.”

“Or the phone drops down and breaks which will cause him to never talk to us again.”

“We’re fucked then.”

“Horribly so.” 

Tsukishima stalked over to them, like a panther about to jump onto their prey and devour it whole. Even though he looked calm and collected both men knew better, it was all a false pretense until they were out of the building and Tsukishima would unleash his anger. Whether it was in the form of ignoring them for a while or making them buy him strawberry shortcake everyday…or if he was feeling really cruel he would probably have them do something embarrassing.

Tsukishima stopped in front of them, not having bothered to put on his robe, the girl with her hair tied up taking it with her. Since he didn’t wear a robe he was fully on display, and Shouyou tried really hard not to look at his bulge, to say it was impressive would have been an understatement. He instead decided to focus on the various tattoos over his body. Tsukishima didn’t have as many tattoos as Kuroo and Bokuto, but he had quite a few, all inspired by one or another thing in his life. All with a story for him alone. Tsukishima crossed his arms, his forearms flexing, the tattoos on them looking like they were coming alive, eyebrow raised he gave them an unimpressed look,“and what did I tell you about my phone?” 

“Not to touch it,” both Yamaguchi and Shouyou said in sync.

“So you guys do know how to listen, yet here you are on my phone?” 

Shouyou held up the device,“look somebody called you, I was going to answer and tell them you're busy but--,” the phone vibrated again. 

Tsukishima snatched it out of Shouyou’s hands,“hello,” he answered. Trying to subtly lean closer he couldn’t make anything out from the other end, Tsukishima however did take a step back, furrowing his eyebrows at Shouyou. “Uh huh...okay...yeah...no I’m all finished here...okay sounds good....which one? The new one? Okay…yeah...sure, no I’m actually finished. Yeah okay, see you there then. At three. Yeah...okay...bye.”

Tsukishima closed the phone,“you guys are lucky I’m tired.”

“Who was that Tsukki?”

Tsukishima once again raised his eyebrow unimpressed, Shouyou wanted to hit Yamaguchi about his lack of tact. “I don’t tell people that snoop my business,” he smirked, both men in front of him protested. Shaking his head Tsukishima pointed at the dressing room,“let me get dressed and while I’m doing that pick a place to eat breakfast, my treat.”

“Really Tsukki?”

“Are you kidding Kei?”

“No I’m forreal, so just pick a place...just as a thank you for being here, I appreciated it.”

“You were really good Tsukki.”

“Yes! Like all bwah and gwah and ohhh.” 

Tsukishima walked away before the could give him more compliments, Shouyou leaned into Yamaguchi,“did you see  _ that _ ?”

“Oh I saw it alright,” Yamaguchi said, fanning his face. 

“I thought I was about to die.” Tsukishima looked really good from up close, he really had Shouyou believing that he wasn’t from this planet.

“Same, it’s sad how he doesn’t know his effect on people.”

“It’s also a good thing, Kei would totally use it against us when he needed to.”

Yamaguchi contemplated it before nodding,“true.”

“So where do you want to eat?”

“I’m craving pancakes--”

“--ohh pancakes with crispy bacon and syrup running down the sides.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter wrote itself, I hope the next one does that as well...hehehehehe it was a fun chapter to write ngl, can y'all guess who crown diamond is? I mean it's obvious but still, when the truth isn't in your favor you often tend to want to avoid it...but then again who knows what will happen. Obviously I do but still...believe it or not you've officially read 1/3 of the fic, if everything continues to go according to plan...oof it got me in my feels yikes. Anyway I hope you enjoyed reading it :))   
> *like always it's unedited  
> **leave a kudo or a comment...I like comments   
> ***also thank you for the 100 kudos like wth


	6. Why Are You So Dumb?

Tobio looked at Tsukishima who was typing on his laptop, apparently answering some work related emails, long fingers rapidly moving across the keys. The clacking of the keys had been soothing for the first ten minutes, but Tobio was quickly growing bored. He and Tsukishima were supposed to have lunch together, they were both free and had nothing better to do. But then that all changed when Tsukishima got some phone calls from the people in L.A that were working on his house, apparently he was getting a few bathrooms remodeled, and then he got emails about a job opportunity that had arisen for him to spend some more time working on his own personal EP. So Tobio knew he should have just left, called it a day so that Tsukishima could focus on his work, just because he himself was currently not working on anything and had an abundance of free time, didn’t mean that that was the case for everybody.

Truly he was going to leave the other man alone, when the blond himself asked Tobio to stay, they decided to just chill around the office and get some food delivered later since they both didn’t feel that hungry yet. Tobio supposes Tsukishima doesn’t like to be lonely either, Tobio sure doesn’t even though a lot of people assumed he did.

Looking around their office he took in the decently sized room, there were two desks facing each other. Cabinets lined up the far back of the room, holding various dishes in them, with a sink right in the middle of it, a fridge, in the corner, with a microwave on top of it. Then they had two big windows near that side of the room, windows that off showed New York, it was absolutely breathtaking. On the opposite end was the door next to another big window that showed the hallway, thankfully this window had curtains covering it. The couch strategically positioned in front of the window, when they got bored working from their desks, being able to just stare straight out of the windows that showed the outside world, watching the scenery as if they were watching tv. It was a nice calming space. 

Scratching his cheek, he turned hi gaze towards Tsukishima, beginning to grow bored he moved closer on the couch they sat on, the blond appearing to be very content with whatever he was doing. He shuffled closer, until he could comfortably lean against Tsukishima, see what he was actually working, the blond adjusted himself a bit so Tobio was comfortable and continued typing. 

He watched silently for a few seconds before loudly groaning, Tsukishima pulled up the tab where his music was playing, hitting the spacebar to pause it,“is there a problem, your majesty?”

"I'm bored."

Tsukishima raised an eyebrow,“I would tell you to go on your phone like anybody else would--”

“--you know I don’t have anything on my phone.” 

“Yes I do, go onto Pinterest.”

Tobio frowned, tilting his head to the side, thinking about it, sure he could go on Pinterest and scroll through it. He had different boards that were very organized, some filled with memes, others filled with aesthetics he liked. But today he didn’t feel like Pinterest. “I don’t want to.”

“Download Twitter.” 

“Do you really not listen when I talk?” He had explained to Tsukishima how he mostly only used his phone for phone calls, texts and emails, he didn’t really use any social media, not liking the negativity of it all. And there was also a sense of paranoia that somebody would hack his phone and steal all his data if he did go on big social media platforms, people these days were like fbi agents able to find whatever they wanted. 

Sighing deeply, Tobio could feel Tsukishima’s chest expanding before contracting releasing all the air inhaled. 

“Are you okay?” Tobio asked, he had noticed the dark bags underneath Tsukishima’s eyes, leaning over he softly cupped Tsukishima’s face making the blond look at him.

“Just a lot of work.”

Nodding Tobio, felt the soft skin beneath his cheek,“you uhm...wanna talk?”

“No.”

“Okay.” Tobio sucked at giving people advice and didn’t know what to do, he knew personally that when he was stressed and overwhelmed with work he just wanted to be coddled...he of course didn’t have anybody to really do it, but the teddy bear his grandpa had given him more than a decade ago did the job decently. 

Biting on his own bottom lip, he sucked at it wondering if Tsukishima would get really angry if he did what he was thinking about. Sure they didn’t fight much anymore with the intent to annoy each other, it was more friendly banter...edging on to something that Tobio didn’t want to think about. He had seen and been in enough romantic shows to know that sometimes it felt like Tsukishima and him were borderline flirting. But what if he was wrong and Tsukishima wasn’t doing anything out for romantic intentions? What if the late night calls were just that, late night calls? And the many times they went out to eat or visit museums were just friendly outings? 

Tobio’s younger self would have walked straight up to Tsukishima and asked him what everything meant. Or maybe he would have simply confessed, he had eyes and could admit the blond was very good looking, initially Tobio had a problem with the blond’s personality, his reasons were valid, Tsukishima was arrogant, condescending, always one upping people and his need to get under people’s skin, especially Tobio’s was annoying. Now though, he could say that yes Tsukishima was all those things when you didn’t know him, but he was also funny, very smart, educated on topics Tobio never put much thought into, and surprisingly very caring, always paying attention to the people in his life. 

Yeah Tobio could admit he liked Tsukishima more than a friend, but what did that mean? 

He was going to get a headache from thinking, something he could not afford right now. “Are you okay?” Tsukishima asked, startling him. 

Opening and closing his mouth, Tobio mutely nodded. Yeah he was okay except for the fact that he had stumbled upon some sort of development within their relationship. They had known each other for almost six months...had been hanging out almost everyday for two months...feelings were normal, right? Was this happening too fast? Tobio felt like he was going to get a stroke if he spent one more minute thinking about his current predicament. 

Shaking his head, he focused on his plan that would help cheer Tsukishima up, as a friend of course. Grabbing Tsukishima’s laptop, he watched the blond raise an eyebrow, looking at him with concern. Putting the laptop on the table near Tsukishima’s legs, he got up, he shuffled forwards. His plan was simple, really, it was very simple, and something that friends did all the time. Friends sat on each other’s laps right? He’s pretty sure he had seen Suga sit on what’s-his-name’s lap...they seemed to be friendly. Yeah it was normal. 

Even though it was completely normal, Tobio still rushed through his actions before he could lose the courage building up in his veins. He quickly sat down on Tsukishima’s lap, hiding his face into the blond’s shoulder, not wanting to deal with the consequences of his action, he awaited Tsukishima’s verdict. 

“Uh King?”

“Yeah,” Tobio answered, voice muffled by Tsukishima’s sweater.

“What are you doing?”

What was Tobio doing? “I don’t know.”

“Oh...okay.”

“Do you uhmmm,” Tobio blinked trying to formulate what he was saying,“do you want me to uhm...leave?”

“No!” Tsukishima said in literally less than a second, moving his face upwards,“I mean do whatever you want,” he amended. 

“Good.” 

“Good.”

“Yeah.”

“Alright.” 

Silence filled the room as they both recovered from the experience once Tobio had deemed himself calmed down enough he leaned backward grabbing Tsukishima’s laptop, perching it on top of him. Tsukishima smirked, moving his around Tobio, adjusting him so it was a bit easier to access the laptop. Suddenly Tobio was very grateful Tsukishima wore wireless headphones, imagine if he didn’t, his anger would surely make Tobio miss out on this warmth in chest that grew just a bit more everyday that he spent with Tsukishima. 

Tobio pulled out his own phone, surprised to see a message from Sakusa. How had he missed this? 

Reading the text he smiled widely, dimples showing with no doubt, so caught up in replying to Sakusa he didn’t realize that Tsukishima’s eyes were on him. 

“What’s gotten you smiling so widely?” Tsukishima asked, moving his backwards so it was easier to look at Tobio. 

“Kiyoomi texted me, he is coming back to New York and wants to grab lunch,” focusing his eyes back onto his phone Tobio missed Tsukishima’s reaction. Missed the tightness that overtook his face before being replaced with frown. He however, did not miss the way Tsukishima tensed, before letting go as if he had lost something. 

“So where are you guys going?” 

“I was thinking about that one restaurant we went to after your photoshoot,” he texted Sakusa back a reply, tongue sticking out of his mouth. The restaurant he and Tsukishima had gone to was good and had really good milk which Tobio appreciated. “Oh yeah!” he said moving his head upwards,“did you get the photos of your shoot yet? It’s almost been a full month already. 

“No not yet,” Tsukishima’s tone sounded clipped, as if he was biting on his tongue.

Tobio couldn't fathom why Tsukishima would do this and thus ignored it typing away on his phone,“okay, show me them when you get them.”

“Alright your majesty, anything else I should do?” 

Tobio scrunched up his nose,“uh did you order the food yet?” he asked, not because he was hungry but he didn't know what else to say. 

“Yeah remember how I put the time for like three hours from now?” 

“Oh yeah.” 

“Kiyoomi and I used to eat from that place all the time when he was here. It was the only fast food place that he allowed us to go to.”

Tsukishima swallowed,“okay and?”

“Well I just think it’s funny we’re going to get food from White Castle...oh I remember, the only reason he trusted that place was because one of his cousins owned it. I don’t remember who though.”

“Interesting, anything else that you and the world famous Kiyoomi Sakusa did?”

“We watched movies in his apartment, and one time he took me to a petting zoo that one of his cousins owned. And then we went,” Tobio remembered that day and how fun it had been. Sakusa had a favorite goat named Anti, because the goat was very anti things, such as other goats, humans, uncleanliness...it was basically Sakusa but a goat. Tobio had told him so, and Sakusa had nodded, agreeing with Tobio. Pointing at a little black goat that Anti was fond of saying that that was Tobio. He agreed and could see it, the little goat left out from all the goats. But that's besides the point, it was a nice day. “I had so much fun that day, and after we were done we went to this restaurant that one of his aunts owned, the food was very yummy,” the food had been very good,“and we got to see the food being prepared right in front of us and even help out! I liked it. Did you know Kiyoomi comes from a big family?”

Tsukishima sighed,“so did you meet all of them?”

“What no? It’s a really big family. I met the ones he introduced me to.” 

“Did you at least meet his parents?”

“No. Why would I? “

Frowning Tsukishima’s arms slightly tightened around Tobio,“saw somewhere you guys were dating.” 

Eyes widening, Tobio didn’t know what to say. Him and Sakusa dating? Like romantically? Him and Sakusa dating? He knew they weren’t...why did Tsukishima think they were? Tobio would have told him if he was in a relationship. Also if Tobio was in a relationship, he wouldn’t sit in Tsukishima’s lap like this...but that’s what friends did...right? Oh god he was spiraling again. 

“No we’re not dating.”

“Oh…” 

“Are you?”

“Am I what?”

Tobio didn’t want to know the answer to the question that left his mouth before he could think about it, but it was better than just being led on for no reason. “Dating somebody?”

“No.”

One simple little word, had Tobio’s hearts doing backflips, what did this all mean? Burying his face once again in Tsukishima’s face he opened Pinterest strolling through it, as Tsukishima typed away on the laptop. 

Tobio himself was working on something very personal to him that he never really thought he would be able to pursue, he Tobio Kageyama was actually having his artworks displayed in a gallery in December. He was excited and terrified, since he was working under an alias, people wouldn’t know it was him...but still, what if people didn’t like his stuff? The works he poured his heart and soul into, Tsukishima and Sakusa were the only ones who he had told the news to so far. Tsukishima knew because they worked in the same space, the blond had seen him working on paintings, and arranging the pieces he thought of displaying. Sakusa happened to be there when he received the phone call saying he had a whole week in December for his exhibition.

Tsukishima tapped his hip,“you’re tense, what are you thinking about?” 

Tobio blinked, shaking his head,“no there uhm is nothing.” 

“Yeah no, you have been doing this all week long.” 

“Doing what?” Tobio was genuinely confused about what Tsukishima was referring to. 

“Zoning out, tensing up--”

Okay, Tobio knew exactly what Tsukishima was referring to, he was stressed thinking about what doing the exhibit meant to him, what it would mean to his acting career. Would he continue doing what his grandfather had taught so many people, to transform into different characters to make them come alive, whether it was in front of the camera or on the stage in a theater. 

“Let me guess,” Tsukishima muttered.

Tobio looked at the laptop’s screen, not wanting to tell Tsukishima what was wrong with him, he was surprised that Tsukishima had his music paused. He wondered when Tsukishima had stopped his music to listen to Tobio. 

“You’re stressed--”

Tobio didn’t say anything, yeah he was stressed, let Tsukishima believe just that. 

“--but it’s not your normal type of stress. From the amount of times you have been staring at your sketchbook, I think it has to do with your exhibition--”

When did Tsukishima figure Tobio out so well? How had the blond learned to read Tobio so well? And once again what did this all mean? 

“--I think you’re afraid of leaving the acting world you have known for so long.” 

Tobio tensed up, the blood in his veins ran cold, he didn’t know what to do about this. What was he supposed to do? Why would Tsukishima say that? Tell him his fear so openly, as if it hadn’t been eating Tobio up alive.

“You can’t...you can’t...why?” 

Tsukishima used on hand to rub soothing circles on Tobio’s thighs,“alright,” Tsukishima whispered softly,“but if you want my take on this, I think that whatever you do will be okay, even after the exhibition you think you need a break of acting or art in general.”

Swallowing Tobio, didn’t say anything, he simply nodded, pulling out his phone and opening up Pinterest, Tsukishima got the message,“thank you,” Tobio whispered, ignoring his stinging eyes. It had been awhile since somebody had cared about him like this. 

The steady clicking of keys continued on, as Tsukishima returned to whatever he was doing, the silence between them comforting. But after thirty minutes or so Tobio felt bored again, having turned off his phone, when the pins got a bit too repetitive.

“I’m bored,” he said.

Tsukishima paused his music again,“what?”

“I said I’m bored.”

“You finished doing whatever it is you do on Pinterest?”

“Yes.” 

“Alright King, just use my phone," Tsukishima said. 

"But it has a password," Tobio replied, grabbing the device from the table, holding it in his hands. Tsukishima leaned in close, whispering the password in Tobio’s ear. Scrunching up his nose at the sensation of having hot air tickle him, Tobio tried not to look like he was judging Tsukishima, clearly failing when the blond just shrugged, awkwardly. 

“I was like twelve when I came up with the password, and it’s just been the same ever since.”

“My password is just 1239.”

“I know. It's really not that hard too figure out” 

Tobio pouted,“it’s a good password!”

“Sure it is.”

“It is though…” Turning his attention to Tsukishima’s phone, he wasn’t surprised to see the dinosaur background he had. “Am I allowed to like anything?” he asked, slightly amazed at the amount of apps the other man had, some were social media related others were more adulting type of apps, that made Tobio shudder deep down. 

"This is your world King I'm just living in it."

Tobio frowned,"what does that even mean?"

Tsukishima sighed loudly,"it means do whatever you want I don't care."

Tobio blinked up at him, jutting out his bottom lip,“hmpff. Rude. ”

He still took it as an invitation to go through the blond’s Twitter, instead of liking the funny posts he saw he just screenshotted them, just in case his actions would bite the blond in his butt. Tobio knew Twitter was quite toxic but was rather surprised just how toxic it truly was, and how the people were basically anxious, depressed beings fuelled by horniness. Exiting the app he went onto Instagram. Scrolling through Tsukishima’s timeline he was quickly bored, looking at the explore page, he stumbled upon a reddit page, reading through various posts he was enjoying determining who the asshole in a situation was. Even nudging the older man a few times to get his take on it. 

When Tsukishima finally finished his work, he let out a groan, Tobio lifted his head from where it had been resting on Tsukishima’s shoulder for the past three hours or so. Grimacing as he could only imagine how numb the other man must be feeling. 

“Are you okay?” he asked, getting off from Tsukishima’s lap, already missing his warmth. 

Tsukishima rolled both his shoulder backwards, before standing up and stretching, just in time to answer their office phone, telling them that the delivery guy had been sent up with their food. “Yeah, I’m good,” he said,“that wasn’t that bad, just a lot of strain for sitting in position for so long,”

Tobio nodded, touching his own neck that had become stiff, handing Tsukishima his phone back before doing a couple of stretches, his bones cracking as he did so. There was a knock on the door, Tsukishima answered it grabbing the bags filled with their food, still warm. Tobio had gotten hungry. 

Both men decided to sit on the floor instead of the couch. Tsukishima raised his eyebrow shooting Tobio a pointed look,“King you know you were allowed to like things?”

“Yeah.”

“Then why’d you screenshot them instead of liking them?”

“Because those are your official accounts.”

Tsukishima snorted,“no they’re spams, do I look like Bobby Mcgullican to you?”

Tobio rolled his eyes,“whatever.”

“Why are you so dumb?” 

“Why are you?”

“I’m not dumb.”

Tobio rolled his eyes, playfully sticking his tongue out,“I don’t know Bobby Mcgullican you don’t look too smart to me.”

“My my King you sure know how to aim where it hurts,” Tsukishima smiled, eating a fry, handing Tobio some when he saw him looking. 

This was good...yeah this was all good. Tobio didn’t have to spend meaningless hours worrying about what they were or weren’t because he knew right now that they were good. Just enjoying each other’s company when they were able to. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Woah an update so soon again wth lmao...this chapter really wrote itself like I can't even, it probably has to do with the fact I am avoiding homework...but I am willing to make that sacrifice...I'm sorry about how rambly it is...like this is not a good chapter, from all the chapters so far this one is my least favorite...I hope y'all caught that one thing Tsukki let Kags do that he lets nobody do ever. These two idiots were really cuddling in a cramped position for like three hours...they're stiff as hell...did I getcha with the Sakusa portion? I hope I did :)))) I sincerely hope the pacing is alright and doesn't seem to be moving too fast.  
> *I didn't edit this chapter but that's because I don't like this chapter and every time I read over it I wanted to burn it down with my laptop and just delete this whole story...I think it's for the best if we avoid that for now  
> **I'm sorry if Kags seems OOC I know he's always portrayed as speaking directly and just being his blunt adorable self but I think adult Kags would internalize that especially with everything that happened (you'll find out what soon), I would argue we can see instances of this in the manga and anime as well when he worries about his tosses especially to Tsukki...and how that fears lingers but whateva  
> ***I really think the next chapter is going to take some time...like it's going to be I wouldn't say big but it will look further into these characters  
> ****Do leave a comment or kudo they really do motivate me like oof


	7. This Party is Lame…Let’s Dip

Tadashi was humming along to a long forgotten song, he didn’t know from where he heard the song, sitting across from him was Tsukishima, who was sort of playing with his food, nothing out of the ordinary, but still the blond hadn’t eaten much. “What’s wrong Tsukki?”

They were eating lunch, just the two of them when Tadashi had complained to the blond that they never hung out anymore. Tsukishima was always busy cooped up in the office, working hard, Tadashi could only imagine how much work Tsukishima was drowning in.

“That song...what song are you humming?” Tsukishima asked, grabbing some corn with his chopsticks. 

Shrugging Tadashi, grabbed some noodles, shoving them in his mouth.“I don’t know,” his voice muffled.

“Ew,” Tsukishima said, just watching Tadashi with a very judgemental look in his eyes. “It sounds like a late 90s song.”

“I really don’t know Tsukki, I heard it somewhere, probably on instagram.”

Tsukishima grimaced,“you shouldn’t spend that much time on Instagram.”

Tadashi raised an eyebrow levelling Tsukishima with an unimpressed look,“says you! Lately you have literally been liking any and everything on both Instagram and Twitter.” Clicking his tongue Tsukishima took another bite of his food. Tadashi smirked at this, waving his chopsticks around,“eating will not save you from your own hypocritical nature!” 

“Remember when you used to just be quiet and laugh at what I used to say.”

“Oh when I was literally like ten and you were actually funny.”

“Ouch Tadashi,” Tsukishima said rolling his eyes,“you really know how to wound a man.” 

Leaning forward Tadashi fluttered his lashes,“well I did think you were the funniest person ever back then.” 

“And now?” 

“I met Shouhei Fukunaga.”

“Ouch,” Tsukishima said scrunching up his nose,“can’t beat a comedian now, can I?”

Tadashi shook his head,“nope,” he said, popping the ‘p’.

Tsukishima pointed at his cheek,“you got something there.”

Wiping at his cheek Tadashi looked at Tsukishima with big imploring eyes,“did I get it?” 

“No, a bit more to the left.”

“Did I get it now?” 

“A bit more to the right.”

Feeling as if he wiped wherever he could he asked again,“now?”

Sighing, Tsukishima leaned across the table, thumb sweeping over Tadashi’s cheek,“now,” he said, leaning back into his seat.

Tadashi's heart was racing his chest. Holy shit! That was something straight out of a romcom! What was he supposed to do now? Should he...should he make a move? Sucking his bottom lip, he hoped his face wasn’t too red even though it felt very warm. “Are you going to the party tonight?” 

Tsukishima looked grim at the mere mention of the party that the whole band had been invited to, including Tadashi, hosted in some sort of penthouse by an art collector of some sort. He was actually looking forward to the party, and the no doubt fancy penthouse they would be in. There were rumors that very famous people were also going to show up. 

Pensively staring at his noodles, Tadashi stirred through them,“Shouyou, me and Tobio are going.”

“What?” Tsukishima asked.

“Well Shouyou and I are going together, but he forced Tobio to come last minute so we’ll meet him there.”

Tsukishima nodded,“so do you three hang out a lot with the King?” 

Tadashi moved his head side to side,“uhm well I guess so since he is helping Shouyou with modelling.”

“What do you think of him?” 

“Of Tobio?”

“Yeah.” 

Thinking hard about the question Tadashi remembered how Kageyama was everything and nothing like he had expected. The man was very talented, and very hardworking, he was good at what he did and wasn’t humble about it, rightfully so. But he was also a dork who loved milk and didn’t really drink. 

“I think he’s good Tsukki,” looking a moment too late at Tsukishima’s face, Tadashi missed the relief on his face,“he is so...he is a big dork whose very talented, and just wants people to give it their all.”

Tsukishima didn’t say anything else on the topic of Kageyama, but he did agree to come to the party and paid for Tadashi’s lunch. 

* * *

Shouyou looked around the penthouse, it was really big, like something straight out of Gossip Girl. Yamaguchi was walking beside him looking at the modern art on the walls, eyebrows raised, no doubt judging the white canvas with one single pink dot in the middle of it. 

The atmosphere was nice, familiar people were chatting all over the place, he quickly spotted the rest of his band members including Tsukishima, who initially wasn’t even going to come, but Yamaguchi had somehow managed to persuade him. Akaashi was leaning against Bokuto who was talking to Kuroo and Tsukishima...or well both men were annoying the blond, who quickly downed an amber colored liquid. Lev was in the kitchen leaning against the counter while talking to somebody, his massive limbs hiding the other person. Shouyou had a little inkling to whom it might be, somebody Lev had grown very fond of. 

Eyes continuing to scan the place he was surprised to see Kageyama already there, looking out of the windows, foot tapping in beat with the melodic music playing. Tugging at Yamaguchi’s shirt he pointed at Kageyama,“let's say hi.”

“Alright,” Yamaguchi’s soft voice sounded beside him. 

They made their way over to Kageyama who was hidden from the other guests, not noticing golden eyes observing their every move. “Tobio!” Shouyou yelled startling the other man. 

“Dumbass!” Kageyama said, clearly startled with how wide his eyes were, and his hand that clutched over his heart.

“We just came to say hi, meanie,” Shouyou said sticking out his tongue.

Yamaguchi rolled his eyes,“sorry about that Tobio, you know what this trouble maker is like,” he said, bumping hips with Shouyou.

Kageyama nodded,“yeah, hi Tadashi,” he greeted Yamaguchi, ignoring Shouyou!

“Woah rude much?” 

“Well what else do you expect from his majesty,” he heard a familiar voice snark from behind him. 

Kageyama just sighed, as both Yamguchi and Shouyou greeted the blond. “Kei, I didn’t think you were coming today.”

“Yeah I changed my mind.” 

Yamaguchi waggled his eyebrows, Shouyou rolled his eyes at this, he couldn’t make a move with so many people here so he had to regroup and come up with a decent plan that would work. Looking around the room he noticed how the lights had been dimmed...spotting a karaoke machine that was connected to the tv. It was as if God themself told Shouyou to win Kei over by serenading him...while beating Yamaguchi in a sing off. 

“We’ll be back!” Shouyou yelled over his shoulder, not waiting for the answer, as he dragged Yamaguchi by the arm to the karaoke machine. 

“What are you doing?” Yamaguchi asked Shouyou warily, having noticed the twinkle of mischief shining in brown eyes.

Pointing at the machine, Shouyou said,“there is a karaoke machine.” 

Catching Shouyou’s drift, Yamaguchi smirked,“oh bring it on!”

* * *

Kageyama turned to Kei when Hinata dragged Yamaguchi away to what seemed to be a karaoke machine, arms crossed. He looked absolutely adorable in the purple sweater he was wearing with ripped black jeans, small golden hoops in his ears.

Kei smirked, already knowing what the King was upset about. 

“Why would you insult my favorite tv show ever like that?” 

Kei looked up at the ceiling,“King, look at it from my perspective--”

Kageyama stood up on his tippy toes,“from up here it’s still a good show.”

They had been arguing about Kageyama’s favorite show ever for the last two days. Sure Kei had painstakingly watched the many seasons of the medical drama, while Kageyama was rewatching them, and sure he had questions, which made it seem like he was interested. But there was no way in hell that Kei agreed with the brunet that the show was good, or worth waking up at six am for the new season, since Kageyama wanted to watch the show together, and Kei wasn’t opposed to this, but he was very opposed to having to wake up at six for something that started at seven, since he also had to get to the office in order to watch it with the King. 

“Not good enough to wake up seven King.”

“But why?” Kageyama pouted, subconsciously making his blue eyes bigger. 

‘You have got this Kei. You are a strong young man. What do a pout and blue eyes have on you? Don’t fucking look! Don’t look! Don’t--ah shit,’ Kei had looked, grimacing his prayed for God to give him strength,“alright, we’ll watch your stupid show at seven in the morning.”

Kageyama’s eyes widened, before he broke into one of his genuine smiles, dimples fully on display. “Really?” 

“Yeah.” 

The lights dimmed around them before Kageyama could say another word, small colored lights focusing on Yamaguchi and Hinata, both holding microphones, eyes narrowed as the music began to play, a familiar tune. 

“You need to give it up, had about enough it’s not hard to see the boy is mine,” Hinata started the song off, Yamaguchi moving in tune with the beat, nodding his head as he listened to Hinata. 

"They seem really into the song," Kageyama muttered, as they both started to sing, outdoing each other’s riffs and adding ad-libs here and there. 

"I wonder who they're singing it about?" Kei asked out loud. 

Kageyama looked at him with an eyebrow raised,"about a boy,” he deadpanned. 

“Really King? I didn’t know…”

Kageyama rolled his eyes,"you need to give it up, had about enough," he sang looking straight into Kei's eyes, pointing at him a small smile on his lips,“It's not hard to see, the boy is mine--”

Somehow Kageyama’s voice drowned out Hinata’s and Yamaguchi, voice clear and soft reaching Kei’s ears. Blood rushing to his ears Kei tried to contain the no doubt stupid smile that was threatening to slip through his mask of indifference.

“I'm sorry that you seem to be confused,” Kageyama swayed his hips side to side moving to the beat of the song and Kei knew he was gone. 

“Tobio?” 

“Yes...Kei? 

“Wanna get out of here,” Kageyama looked around, no doubt judging the people swaying off beat with the music.

Kageyama licked his lips, slowly nodding,“okay,” he muttered, taking Kei’s outstretched hand. They slipped away while everybody’s attention was focused on Hinata and Yamaguchi, who were getting in each other’s faces. 

Hands still held together, Kei laced their fingers together, as Kageyama gave him a small smile,“what were you doing at the party King?”

Kageyama frowned,“I wanted to dance.”

“The music sucked.”

“Yeah,” he pouted looking up at Kei,“but I still wanted to do it.” 

Kei knew when to admit defeat, and simply nodded, pointing at a little bodega,“want to get some food.”

Kageyama blinked,“okay.”

“Okay.” 

* * *

“You two were really going for it,” Kuroo smirked at Tadashi, who was busy looking for a tall blond. Both him and Hinata knew that it was crucial to find Tsukishima now, having watched enough movies to know that if one of them was able to find the blond, they would be able to go back home with him and explore uncharted territory. 

“Well he did challenge me in public you know.” 

Kuroo laughed,“Kei’s influence on you is crazy.”

The corners of Tadashi’s mouth lifted upwards,“speaking of Tsukki, have you seen him anywhere?”

Looking around Kuroo’s lips turned slightly down, furrowing his brows,“no I haven’t,” he shook his head,“I remember him going to the kitchen to get something strong and then never returning.

Tadashi nodded, scratching one of his freckled cheeks,“ahh that’s alright then.” 

Eyes scanning the area himself, he wondered how hard it could be to find a six foot plus adult male. He should have logically been towering over a lot of people here. Kuroo took a sip from transparent liquid, Tadashi wasn’t sure if it was water. 

Kuroo’s phone buzzed, pulling out of his pocket, his smile widened, probably having received a message from his significant other. “I got to take this,” he muttered apologetically.

“It’s all good,” Tadashi said, waving him off. 

Seeing a dejected Hinata make his way over to him,“I looked upstairs, outside, he just vanished.” 

Tadashi sighed,“I bet he left early to finish writing songs or something like that.” 

“Probably, he has been so busy lately.”

Tadashi looked at his hands that were filled with freckles, he remembered the days when he had gotten bullied over them. How he tried to do anything to get rid of them, or hid them, always wearing full sleeves, in winter wearing his gloves as long as he could before taking them off, so nobody would tease them. It was a rough journey to self-love but Tsukishima helped so much, Tadashi didn’t think the blond knew just about how much he had helped him. Comparing the various freckles to stars, teaching Tadashi about astrology and opening a whole new world to him. A world where his freckles weren’t dirt spots where he hadn’t scrubbed enough, they were long forgotten galaxies mapped over his skin, helping him find his way back home. 

Hinata nudged him, looking at him worriedly,“are you okay?” 

“Yeah,” Tadashi said, taking a sip of his beer. “I’m really good.” 

The maps to long forgotten galaxies would lead Tsukishima to him, he was sure of it.

* * *

They had spent thirty minutes in the bodega deciding what to get, Kageyama carefully analyzing each and everything Kei picked up. He had noticed that about Kageyama, how there were days when he didn’t care what he ate but others were spent carefully analyzing everything and anything on the menu. Shoving the last bite of his muffin into his mouth, Kei asked the question,“you don’t have to answer but why are you so particular with your food?” 

Kageyama looked up at the night sky, listening to the police sirens in the far distance, sipping from milk box, their hands still intertwined, they stopped underneath a broken flickering street lamp,“I guess it’s because for a while it was the only thing I could control and I guess I’m afraid to lose that control?”

“Because you were so busy?” Kageyama had been in the industry since forever, it was crazy whenever Kei thought about it, knowing how overwhelmed he himself felt, he wondered how a young Kageyama handled this sort of pressure.

Shaking his head Kageyama avoided eye contact with the blond,“I have been in the industry for as long as I can remember and when I was like in my uhm when I was like in my early teenage years...like when I was twelve and did the history show you know I got a new manager. And he was very very controlling with everything, with whom I could and couldn’t hang out, when I could see my family, when I had days off...what I could do on those days like where I was allowed to go. Just really controlling.”

Kei frowned not having known this. He didn’t remember reading about any of this when he had Googled the King. 

“So uhm,” Kageyama licked his lips,“I have depression and it got really bad when I was fourteen and I think I’ve always had it but it just got triggered and uhm...really really bad when I was fired...and written off the show, so I was put on antidepressants which like made me gain weight and break out...and I received a lot of hate which yeah--” he gestured around.

Kei remembered headlines criticizing Kageyama, actual adults hating on a fourteen year old, calling him a diva. He remembered various of his co-stars coming forward and berating him in various interviews, making the public hate him more. Kei was pretty sure Kageyama had to get a few restraining orders, because people had gotten that crazy, he swallowed,“you were a child though.” Where were Kageyama’s parents during all of this? 

“Not in this industry,” Kageyama whispered,“and even when I did try to tell people my side they would just twist my words around. Making it seem like I was a very bad person,” Kageyama got a faraway look in his eyes, and Kei never wanted to hurt people quite as bad as he did right there. If they ever did cross paths Kei promised that nobody would be worse than him while avenging  his the King “You start to keep things to yourself,” he frowned,“and before you know it you’re an overthinking mess...because...when you...it’s just...they--”

“When you do talk they villainize you.”

“Yeah, and once they hate you it doesn’t stop.”

Kageyama’s confession was said so apathetically that Kei knew whatever he himself had to say would be safe underneath the moonlight. “I have anxiety,” he murmured,“there are days where my brain just doesn’t fucking shut up, I will be fine one second and the next I’m overthinking everything and anything, music helps quieten the thoughts. But that pressure on my chest just keeps on getting heavier and really fucking suffocating, the longer I try to create music.”

There was a beat of silence between them and Kei wondered if he had fucked up. Kageyama spoke up clearing his throat,“I get uhm numb, like really really numb. I just don’t feel anything, sometimes it’s bad enough for me to not be able to do anything productive and other times it’s just me being in a daze trying to feel--”

Cars were passing them by, completely unaware of their confessions whispered in the dark. Continuing walking through the streets of New York, Kei wondered what this meant. Did Kageyama tell everybody this? Did he tell others that he was depressed or was Kei special? 

Deciding to push his luck Kei swallowed, he knew he shouldn’t pry and would hate if somebody did this to him, but curiosity got the better of him,“what happened during the famous fit?” 

It was all over the news, broadcasted around the world how much of a Diva Kageyama was. How Kageyama forced the cast and crew to stay late because of how many expectations he had, and how he always pushed them to do more while rushing them. Kageyama was very toxic and apparently even pushed some people to seek therapy. The footage of the fit had been leaked everywhere, showcasing Kageyama’s cast members abandoning him in the middle of a scene...that had a live audience, who all started to ‘boo’ at Kageyama...yelling derogatory names at him. 

When Kei watched it for the first time he was shocked to see that his favorite actor wasn’t as good of a human being as he wanted him to be, and with all the other betrayals served to him on a big plate, he had automatically just assumed Kageyama was entitled. But Kageyama wasn’t, he was hardworking, practicing until he got it right and then more until he couldn’t get it wrong anymore, whether it was for acting, singing or dancing. He had searched up the footage a few weeks back, blood boiling at how hurt a young Kageyama looked, eyeing the adults for help who all turned away from him, until somebody ushered him off set, the damage already done though. 

Kageyama’s eyes turned glassy, ocean blues rolling in waves, he blinked rapidly, and Kei had never felt like more of an asshole than he did right there. Just when he was about to tell Kageyama it was okay the man spoke up,“my grandfather passed away, he was sick for a long time,” Kageyama’s voice broke,“and I,” handing his milkbox to Kei he wiped his nose,“because of my management was... never allowed to see him so I threw the famous you know “fit” because I just wanted everybody to pull themselves together so I could see him. But I was too late, by the time all that happened he was gone--"

Kei didn't know what to say to that. He had always known he was a dick, but he shouldn't have taunted Kageyama the way he had during his first weeks of knowing the other man. The fit had portrayed Kageyama so effectively as the villain that Kei just believed it. Opening his mouth to say something Kageyama continued on.

"--and then I was written off the show, and dropped from a lot of projects because I am such a diva. Everybody came out with stories that were very exaggerated...and before I knew it, I was all alone.”

"Where were your parents during all of this?"

Kageyama sniffed, Kei stopped walking, throwing the empty box into a garbage can, he stepped closer to Kageyama cupping his face, rubbing thumb over soft skin, wiping Kageyama's tears away, finally understanding the switch from film to theatre, and his disdain for social media...always having been the victim of hate targeted at him, no wonder he was so paranoid with the public knowing more about him. "They don't care, never have never will."

Kei clicked his tongue, remembering how Kageyama always changed the topic when they talked about their families. From the looks of it Kageyama only had his sister left. Moving his hands to Kageyama’s waist, he pulled the brunet closer, resting his chin atop soft ink-like dark hair. They probably shouldn’t be doing this in public, but it was dark, the streets deserted like they knew what the two men were talking about.

Kageyama sighed, leaning into the embrace,“you know what sucks?”

“No.” 

“I did deserve everything that happened,” Kageyama said so bluntly that Kei felt hot burning anger overtake him. 

Kageyama had said it so confidently like he believed every single word that left his mouth,“no,”Kei disagreed,“you didn’t deserve it. Not in the slightest.” 

Shaking his head Kageyama unintentionally tickled Kei’s face,“I did, I was rude to my friends...co-stars...and shouldn’t have been so commanding during the live show.” 

Kei frowned,“you were a child...the adult in charge should have stepped up and pulled you aside instead of supporting you being shunned in front of impressionable people who don’t even know what’s going on. Thus labeling you the villain.” 

Kageyama blinked, burying his face into Kei’s chest,“I miss them.”

“Who?” 

“Akira and Yuutarou.” 

Once again Kei was reminded how much of a good person Kageyama really was. If it was him he would have never forgiven them for slandering his name, delivering him on a nice silver plate to the public, feeding their angry flames. Kei didn’t even want to imagine what Kageyama went through when the public turned against him, preconceived notions dictating the next half of his career. 

“Why? They don’t deserve it.” 

Kageyama nuzzled into his shoulder while Kei stroked through his soft locks,“it wasn't their fault, our manager put us against each other.” 

“Still they should have had your back instead of turning against you.”

“But they were my friends...and for the longest time my only ones.”

“Yeah but ba--Tobio, Tadashi is my best friend in the whole world,” he said,“and I was a nightmare throughout middle school, yet he never abandoned me. Friends stick together, even when it’s hard sometimes.” 

Looking up to Kei, Kageyama shakily exhaled,“yeah but you were mean to everybody but him. I was mean to everybody including them.”

“You just wanted them to give it their all, plus you wanted to see your grandfather,” the while you could was left unsaid. 

“I wish I could have apologized at least once,” he whispered.

Kei suppressed saying something snarky, instead he sighed,“I think I can get you Akira’s phone number, so we can set something up.”

Leaning a bit backwards Kageyama looked up with such hopeful eyes that Kei knew he would need to call Koganegawa and ask him to get the number from his boyfriend Goshiki. 

“The show sucked after you left.” 

Kageyama nodded,“they were cancelled mid-season.” 

“For all that big talk it really really sucked, like what were they thinking continuing the show without the main character.” 

“I don’t know,” Kageyama shrugged,“but a lot of people called me selfish for leaving the show and causing it to suck.”

Clenching his jaw, Kei tightened his grip on Kageyama, geez the younger man really never got a break, did he? First he was fired from the show causing people to make him out to be some sort of villain, then when that show sucked because he was fired people hated him for it. Like how did that even make sense? 

“How’d you get into theatre?” he asked, hoping it would be a topic that made Kageyama happier, although he had his suspicions of what had happened. 

“My grandfather used to teach acting classes, so I learned to act both on a stage and film. But because of the accident nobody wanted me...and then...and then I auditioned for the play  _ Setting the Stage _ , and Koushi Sugawara, he vouched for me when nobody else would....I owe him everything.” 

“He is also a model right?”

“Yeah,” Kageyama nodded, a far-away look in his eyes, deep blue eyes, appearing to be a tad bit dark,“...if it weren’t for him, I don’t think I’d be alive today,” Kageyama whispered so softly that Kei wasn’t sure if he had heard it to begin with. 

The blood in Kei’s veins froze, the chilly night air hitting him hard. He didn’t like what Kageyama had just implied. Didn’t like how Kageyama said it with a voice so devoid of emotion as it was a fact. Like Kageyama had seriously thought of ending life...maybe even attempting to do so.

Swallowing he exhaled softly,“I’m glad you’re here Tobio--”

“--me too.”

“And I’m sorry.”

“For?”

This apology was long overdue,“taunting you and calling you King, when you clearly told me not to.”

Kageyama tightened his hold onto Tsukishima’s dark blue sweater,“don’t stop...you...you don’t say it out of hate.”

“But I--”

“You make me feel good about...being a King,” Kageyama’s voice was so soft the wind carried it, effortlessly taking it far away from Kei, but the confession was forever planted in his mind. 

Kei decided to confess things himself, give Kageyama a better understanding of who he was,“my brother deserves the world,” he mumbled and it was true because Akiteru was kind, understanding and always put everybody else before him,“he put his heart and soul in music...gave it his everything...and still didn’t make it,” his brother who had ignited Kei’s love for music,“instead he got screwed over by the people closest to him and ran away.”

The blond hadn’t told anybody the full Akiteru story, even Yamaguchi his best friend in the whole wide world didn’t know the full story of what happened when Akiteru had vanished for two years during their last year of middle school to their first year of high school, how even though they were slowly rebuilding their relationship they still had a long way to go,“I feel guilty because he deserves this more than I do and instead he got shit.”

“Where’d he go?” 

“Backpacking around the country with some people or at least that’s what he told us, turns out he was high on drugs, always searching for different ways to get high.”

“Oh,” Kageyama whispered,“that’s not good.”

“No it wasn’t King,” Kei said, his lips slightly quirking upwards at how easy Kageyama made it to just talk to him without all the fakeness, always just saying what he felt. None of that pitying he would have received he talked to anybody else about how his brother had gotten addicted to drugs because of him. 

“Is he okay now?”

Kei nodded,“yeah five years sober now, married and a baby on the way.”

“Woah,” Tobio gasped,“he did a full one-eighty spin.”

“Yup. i’m proud of him,” Kei admitted before letting out a deep sigh,“a part of me is still so fucking hurt about all of that though...and I feel like it’s my fault he ran off and got addicted, if I hadn’t worshipped the ground he walked on he wouldn’t have felt compelled to run with that shitty group of people to make it.”

“Well maybe,” Tobio squeezed his hands,“maybe he is also hurt that he couldn’t...that he couldn’t be the person you wanted him to be. And you were a child...I worshipped...worship my sister she is the best, it’s just natural to do so when your older sibling is cool.”

Kei sighed,“but I just wanted him to be himself, that was more than enough.”

Rubbing circles on the back of his head Tobio slowly licked his bottom lip, pouting up at Kei,“that’s easier said than done. We both know that.”

Kei leaned forehead, Kageyama met him in the middle as they rested their foreheads together. Confessing things to each other that the night would keep safe. “I still think it was partially my fault--” 

Kageyama looked at Kei from underneath his long lashes, effectively taking his breath and cutting his sentence off,“--I don’t like when you’re mean to yourself.”

Raising an eyebrow, Kei composed himself slightly huffing,“I don’t like when you’re mean to yourself.”

“Then let's promise we won’t be mean to ourselves anymore.”

“Alright King.” Kageyama put out his pinky, Kei suppressed a snort still linking his own pinky with the king’s,“I promise.” 

“I promise too,” Kageyama sighed, shyly flashing Kei his dimples, the blond swore that he could die happy now,“and since it’s a pinky promise, we can’t break it.” 

“I know King.”

“Just making sure you do.”

Kei looked around him, at the empty street and sidewalk had faded to the background of his mind. All his attention focused on the dork in front of him,“I think we should go.”

“Go where?” 

“To my apartment.” Kageyama cocked his head to the side, silently imploring Kei to say more. “Just trust me on this King,” he said, grabbing Kageyama’s hand once again and lacing their fingers together. 

“It’s late...I--”

“--stay over.” 

“Okay.” 

“Okay.” 

“Good.” 

“Good.” 

“Yeah.”

“Yeah alright.” 

They started walking again, Kei was thankful for his sense of direction finding his penthouse rather quickly.

* * *

Tobio felt heavy, he had talked a lot and was tired, but he trusted Tsukishima, which is why he sat on the blond’s couch, wearing one of his shirts, and pants that he had to roll up. Tsukishima was heating up milk, Tobio observed the place. It was bigger than his own, and very Tsukishima, minimalistic yet fancy. 

“Your place is big,” he muttered, when Tsukishima placed down a steaming mug of milk in front of him.

Tsukishima nodded,“yeah I get anxious in small spaces.” 

That made sense, Tobio grabbed his milk, blowing over it watching the tendrils of steam disappear into different directions,“I don’t like big places.” 

“Why?” 

“They get lonely fast.” 

Even his one bedroom apartment sometimes felt too big, all the corners and walls coming to eat him. Tsukishima clicked his tongue,“good thing we’re both here then.”

The corner of Tobio’s lip moved upwards, as he took a sip of the milk. The beverage made him happy, milk was always so good. They drank their milk in comfortable silence, when they both finished, Tsukishima took their mugs. Tobio remained seated, not knowing what to do from here on. 

Tsukishima cleared his throat, and once again Tobio was met with his outstretched hand,“I believe I owe you a dance King.”

“A dance?” Tobio asked, still taking Tsukishima’s hand, letting himself be pulled up. 

“Yes, Tobio,” Tsukishima said, he went to his playlist putting it on shuffle. 

A soft guitar filled the room, before the singer sang her song. Tobio immediately recognized it as a cover of I Say a Little Prayer by Lianne La Havas. He had grown up with Aretha Franklin’s version, Kazuyo-san, his grandfather loved Aretha, he had found the love of his life while listening to her version of the song. This soft version was beautiful, and Tobio couldn’t find in himself to be angry about it as he and Kei swayed to the guitar’s strums. 

“I love this song,” Tobio smiled, singing along to it,“to live without you would only mean heartbreak for meeeee.”

Tsukishima’s hands found their way around Tobio’s waist, Tobio leaned his head against Tsukishima’s chest. The air around them was different, filled with something electrifying, that Tobio was too afraid to name.

Their swaying never stopped even when the song changed to a faster one,“this is nice,” Tobio muttered.

“Yeah,” Tsukishima answered,“it’s real nice.”

Tobio didn’t know for how long they danced just swaying, completely off tune with the music, having created their own rhythm just for the two of them. “Hi Tobes?” Tsukishima muttered, his tiredness evident in his voice. 

“Hmm,” Tobio hummed.

“Let’s go to bed.”

“Okay,” Tobio slowly started to peel himself away from Tsukishima much to (both their) his dismay. Tsukishima took his hand leading him up the stairs, in complete darkness, to the master bedroom,“why do you need this much space?” 

“I’ve got too many people in my life who love to show up unannounced.”

Tobio huffed out a small laugh, knowing that even if he didn’t have this much space Tsukishima would still let those people (his friends) crash over. “We have to wake up early for--”

Tsukishima pulled the cover away, getting into the bed and patting the space besides him. Tobio was too tired to question it, sliding in next to the blond, resting his head against Tsukishima’s shoulder,“yeah yeah...seven on the dot for you stupid show.”

“It’s not stupid!”

“King it’s very stupid.” 

“Just put the alarm.” 

Tsukishima grumbled but still complied with Tobio’s request,“happy now King?” 

“Very,” Tobio muttered,“you’re lucky you have a tv in your room.” 

“Yeah, imagine having to go downstairs at seven in the morning.” 

“Good night Kei,” Tobio whispered, his eyelids feeling heavier as the seconds passed by.

“Good night Tobio.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Woah that was some heavy stuff lmao...no regrets whatsoever, I did Kags and Akiteru dirty...but it was for a good cause aka angst. This is why Kags is an overthinker and a bit OOC here, because every time he did open his mouth people shut him down real quick. The scene where Hinata and Yams are singing to each other while Kags and Tsukki look on was one of the first things I wrote that kickstarted this fic. It's inspired by Brandy and Monica's MTV performance; the mtv youtube account took it down tho but that tension (although theirs was because somebody punched somebody) is what I was aiming for, you can also find it in the glee version which also pretty good. I mashed two ideas into one in this fic, I don't think you notice it yet but you will in the later chapters...oof I'm excited :)) This is like one of my favorite chapters, my number one favorite is a later one that's so good like oof my mind is just woah, I'm impressed with myself that I came with that...well the idea is good but idk how the actual execution will be, but I'm excited to write it. I think, I'm too tired to do anything...on god but this chapter's execution was pretty good but since I'm going to dip for awhile cuz your girl has midterms we'll see when I come back and look at it. The juggling of the povs in this chapter was absolutely exhausting tho, it was just so much mind hopping, from one character to the next and then back...ugh gross...I feel like that's why they all sound the same, but my eyes are literally closing so idek man. I literally wrote 5000+ words to avoid writing a 1500 word essay, I don't know what this says about me lmao.   
> *I didn't feel like editing cuz it's literally night night like night/new day time so I is exhausted....  
> **I have midterms for most of the week so probably no update for awhile cuz I'm on some sort of writing groove that I feel like might just disappear cuz of school blegh :/// but since I have been on a roll lately and if my writing juices don't get drained to hell and back you can expect an update the week after this upcoming one...no promises tho, always when I explicitly state some sort of a schedule it just doesn't happen...cuz I jinx myself before anything can happen...in the meantime do check out my other fics, some are pretty good if I do say so myself...  
> ***Thanks you for all the kudos and comments, I really appreciate them a lot <3


	8. I Spent a Shit-ton on These

Kei sighed, rolling his shoulders as he started at another email from the playwright who wanted Kei to fix one of the songs he had submitted, something about lyrics having to imply the inevitable doom of both characters rather than outright saying so. Honestly he thought it was bull since most people who were going to see the play would be too caught up in all the elements coming together rather than sitting there and analyzing each single line the actors sang. 

Hell even Kageyama agreed with him, and that meant something since the other man was an expert! Throwing his phone on the bed Kei rubbed his eyes, an upcoming headache forming behind his temples. Preparing to sigh again, the smell of pancakes slowly wafted into the room diverting his attention from everything that he still had to do. 

“Kei!” he heard Kageyama yell,“food’s ready!” 

Smiling to himself Kei grabbed his phone, and headed downstairs where the one and only Tobio Kageyama wore an apron plating their breakfast. The famous actor had become somewhat of a permanent fixture in Kei’s apartment, his clothes finding their way into Kei’s closet, their toothbrushes right next to each other, different skin care products neatly lined along the sink. They opted to stay in more rather than go to the office where they actually had to socialize, usually occupying the same room...Kei had even turned one of his spare rooms into a diy studio Kageyama could use to work on his art collection...well he had hired somebody to do it but still diy is diy even if you have to pay somebody, right? 

Who cares, all that mattered was that Kageyama and him basically lived together, occasionally the blue eyed man, had to go back to his apartment like when he had to go for a photoshoot or hash out details with the gallery directors. But out of the seven days in the week five, leaning more to six were spent together.

And this absolutely terrified Kei, chilled him to his bones, had his brain running on a rampage trying to define the thing between them. What were they? Were they roommates that slept in the same bed together, cuddling and shit? Were they young adults who were tired of carrying their heavy baggage alone and just looked for company, somebody they could rely on? Was this them trying to cope with whatever trauma they had? Were they mere acquaintances that just looked like they were dating, but in the end didn’t know anything about each other? Did Kei want to date Tobio Kageyama? As in Tobio Kageyama the youngest EGOT winner ever, kicker and blanket taker, insomniac that sometimes flopped from one side of the bed to the other, who would sometimes be stuck in the past. Tobio Kageyma who also happened to cook some of the best dishes Kei ever had, who actually sang when he was sweeping, and danced while dusting. Kageyama, who for some weird reason loved chants, and always came up with silly rhymes. The same person who had gotten a swear jar and made Kei put money in it to prepare for the birth of his niece or nephew. Did he want to date him?

Yes. 

The answer was yes. A very simple, totally fuck yeah, yes. Kei wanted to date Kageyama, wanted to kiss baby pink lips that looked like cherry blossom petals. Wanted to hold hands with Kageyama whenever...which they already did, but still it would be nice to hold hands without worrying about their relationship status and what this all meant. He wanted everything with the King, wanted to see blue eyes shine, and a dimpled smile thrown his way. Kei wanted everything but was too much of a coward to ask for it.

What-ifs plagued his mind whenever he felt like opening his mouth and just asking Kageyama the simple question of do you want to go on a date with me? He could physically see them drift apart, the minute those words left his mouth, Kageyama becoming withdrawn from him, too awkward to tell Kei that their friendship couldn’t work anymore because of Kei’s affections for him. He saw it all play out in his mind, the blue toothbrush leaving his green ones, fashionable outfits making their way of his closest, his own hoodies always smelling like fresh sheets and a subtle hint of mint but never able to encompass the way Kageyama carried those scents. He could just see it all play out and that’s why he could never, in a million years ask Kageyama out. Even so, if the King did want to go out his bluntness would have already done so. 

Shaking his head he sat down against the counter, putting his phone on top of the marbles surface, thanking Kageyama for the food he dug in, enjoying the fluffiness and perfect amount of sweetness in his mouth due to the icing sugar, maple syrup, fresh whipping cream and strawberries on his plate. It was the perfect breakfast and Kei was once again glad for Kageyama, not wanting to remember how he spent the last six months mostly eating dry cereal, or going out. 

From the corner of his eye he looked at Kageyama who was pouting at his phone, sighing again before turning off the device, angrily drinking his milk. 

“You good?” Kei asked, in between bites fully turning his head to the side so he was properly looking at the other man. 

“No,” Kageyama said, cutting a piece of his own breakfast, an omelet since he wasn’t really fond of having sweet things in the morning, much preferring savoriness to start his day off. 

Kei smiled at this, glad he didn’t have to play any guessing games with ~~his~~ the King,“why’s that your majesty? Did somebody sit on your throne today?” 

Narrowing his eyes at him Kageyama huffed, taking another sip of his milk and another bite of his food,“why are you such a dick?” he asked, before Kei could retort something Kageyama continued on,“do you remember how I was telling you the NYC Ballet was finally performing Sleeping Beauty and how I was going to get tickets?”

“Yeah.” 

Kageyama pouted and sighed again,“well I was too late and now they’re all sold out for the next week! The only week I am free!” he complained, swinging his cutlery in the air. 

“Is that why you have been sulking so much?” Kei asked, raising his eyebrow, taking another bite of his pancake, making sure to get some whipped cream on it.

“You don't understand,” Kageyama said, angrily leaning over and stabbing into a piece of strawberry that was on Kei’s plate,“it’s a classical ballet, and the storyline is actually...really familiar and I just ugghh,” Kageyama sighed. 

Kei smirked at this hiding it behind taking a sip from his water, it wasn’t often Kageyama’s pretentious side came out but when it did, oh was it a delight for Kei. Swallowing he asked,“the one that would happen this Friday right?” 

Kageyama nodded solemnly,“I have been trying for the last three years to watch it here in New York but I always miss out on it!”

Kei frowned at this, why did it matter where Kageyama saw it? Wasn’t ballet just ballet everywhere? But then again this was Kageyama and he probably had some stupid reasoning or whatever. “Clearly something is very intent for you not to go.” 

“Yeah,” dejectedly Kageyama pouted,“I really wanted to go though,” looking up their eyes met,“I thought this was my year...but yeah,” the longing and disappointment all too clear in those ocean eyes.

Kei nodded, the conversation stilting between them as Kageyama reached over and took Kei’s phone, no doubt about to spend some time scrolling through social media. Swallowing Kei could just feel himself about to do something stupid, a heavy feeling in the pit of his stomach as he raked his brain to come up with a way for Kageyama to still go to the ballet. Maybe this was the push he was looking for? 

Maybe. 

* * *

Tobio hummed to himself, as he added a bit more color to the painting he was painting. The jewel piece of his collection, a beautiful golden crown covered with flowers, dripping with what appeared to be ruby like stones from a distance, but the closer you got to the painting the more sinister it got. The ruby red stones looking like blood, the pretty flowers revealing thorns lined on the inside of the painting. A simple ‘help’ written in the gold, too light to read from afar. 

He knew it was a dark painting but it represented a dark period in his life, the whole collection actually revolved around what happened to him. One painting depicting a simple scene in a hospital, a shadow-like figure looking out of a window that had bars on them, pastel colors covering the room, from the wilting flowers in the vase to the fading cards hanging on the walls, even though all the colors were light and usually associated with brightness, the aura surrounding the painting was very dark. Tobio himself didn’t know who the shadow was, sometimes he thought it was himself, other times he thought it was a grandfather, maybe it was both of them...maybe it was neither.

And for all the sadness that surrounded his collection there was also a simple hopeful piece that Tobio had painted on a black canvas, exclusively only using white and gold paint, to illustrate the setting moon’s reflection on the water, as music notes formed a clear path between them. The painting represented his relationship with Tsukishima, the moon and the ocean, a clear cut path between them guided by music, a source of joy for both men. 

Tobio hadn’t shown this painting to Kei for fear of scaring the other man away. They were living together, Suga said they were basically dating, Sakusa said the same thing but sounded a bit disgusted, but then again that was just Sakusa. He remembered asking for advice from both men, only for them both to completely contradict each other. 

Suga said to just ask Tsukishima out while Sakusa said to wait for the blond, because if the blond was legit he would ask Tobio himself. Tobio didn’t know what to do since the man did let him live in his penthouse and gave Tobio a whole room dedicated to his art, but Sakusa argued that Tobio was basically a maid since he cooked and cleaned. But that wasn’t really true, because Tsukishima hired people to clean up his place. Tobio was just so confused and some of the smartest people he knew were disagreeing with each other, which just gave Tobio a headache.

So for now he would wait...and if the right opportunity presented himself he would just confess, even if it meant the blond might tell him to leave his apartment and never look back. Tobio would actually miss the blond if this happened. 

For now he would wait, straining his ears a bit he let himself be soothed by Tsukishima playing his keyboard. Various melodies and tunes entered the room, as Tobio added more red to his painting.

* * *

Kei had done something stupid. He had done something stupid and needed advice because it really wasn’t that stupid...but it was because Kei had a horrifying epiphany that he was absolutely whipped for a dork with bright blue eyes, plump lips and deep dimples. He needed advice, needed somebody to tell him what he did was stupid, talk some sense in him. But needed that person to be far away so he couldn’t see the teasing on their face as they realized the stone cold Kei Tsukishima wasn’t actually heartless. 

Sitting out on the balcony he looked at his phone in his hands, Kageyama still sad, he wouldn't get to see the ballet today had gone to the gym, asking if the blond wanted to join him which he declined on. The stupidity that berated him forcing him to make this call, after all he had promised the King he wouldn’t be mean to himself, and that was one of the promises in this life he intended to keep. 

Licking his lips, he dialed the number he didn’t think he would use anytime soon, even though he had memorized it by heart the second he got it, even after everything that had happened. Exhaling through his nose he pressed the call button, bringing his phone up to his ear, listening to the number being dialed he held his breath. Biting his bottom lip that had begun to tremble since it didn’t look like his call would be picked up. Right when he was about to end the call and berate himself regarding his own stupidity, he heard somebody talking. 

“Hello?” 

Kei wanted to say many things, starting with returning the greeting, but somehow he had become all choked up, guilt gnawing its way through the pit of his stomach. New York itself had gone quiet, even the wind stilled in its tracks, the soft breeze that had been comforting Kei all gone. 

“Hello….Kei?” his brother’s voice greeted him. 

Closing his eyes, Kei swallowed, opening his mouth, he softly whispered,“hi Akiteru,” the simple greeting knocking all the air out of his lungs.

He couldn’t explain it but Kei swore his brother’s voice sounded lighter, happier almost,“how are you?”

“I’m uhm,,,” Kei’s mouth felt awfully dry, maybe he shouldn’t have called his brother. Maybe he should have just waited for Christmas and greeted his brother during their annual family dinner, where the atmosphere was awkward but Saeko, his sister-in-law made it so much better, with her rambunctious jokes, and her sharp-witted jabs,“I’m good,” he coughed,“how are you?” 

“Good good, same old,” Akiteru said, Kei could just see his brother smiling, the wind moving again, feeling like a hand ruffling through his hair. 

“How’s Saeko?” Kei asked.

“She is good, the little bugger however is causing her some troubles.” 

Kei smiled at this,“like what?” he asked. 

“Well having some weird pregnancy cravings.” Kei could hear some yelling in the background and a thud, Kei didn’t need to guess to know that Saeko had probably taken offense with Akiteru and thrown one of her drumsticks at him, which must have hurt, another way they bonded since Saeko played traditional Japanese Taiko drums. 

“Don’t leave me in suspense like that,” he said, wondering what weird concoctions his future niece or nephew could be craving. 

“She needs vanilla ice cream, with pickles, bacon and cheez whiz.” 

Kei scrunched up his nose in disgust,“I don’t know what I thought you were going to say, but that wasn’t it,” yeah he totally wasn’t expecting that, his brother’s kid definitely got from their mother’s side of the family. 

“Right?”

“That sounds really gross,” Kei stated, before asking the question that would satisfy his own curiosity,“did you eat it?” 

“Yes,” Akiteru deadpanned,“it was awful I thought I was going to die.” 

“Don’t judge me!” Saeko yelled, sounding like she had taken the phone from her husband,“I’m literally carrying the next generation of T-T!”

Kei chuckled,“my bad Saeko, how are you?”

“Great, I love my ice cream!” 

“That’s good.” 

“You should come down here so we can talk face to face, you’re too awkward to talk to over the phone,” Saeko laughed. 

Kei gasped in fake offense, he absolutely despised phone calls so it was always a surprise when he initiated one,“me awkward never.”

“Yeah...yeah...yeah,” Saeko said dismissively,“this baby is kicking crazily, so I’m just going to lie down but do come down!” she yelled.

Kei winced at volume,“alright for sure, I’ll try to stop by once before the baby comes,” he said mentally reminding himself to check his schedule and look for a good time.

“Bye Kei."

“Bye Saeko.”

Akiteru took the phone back, rustling entering Kei’s ears, as his brother adjusted the phone no doubt. Akiteru audibly swallowed and Kei knew what this meant, the dreaded question was about to be asked,“so Kei...why’d you call?” 

And there was the dreaded question where Kei would have to fess up to his own stupidity and surprisingly impulsiveness, which wasn’t that surprising since he loved proving people wrong, but still...“do I need a reason to?” he asked. 

“The last five years I have always been the first to reach out,” Akiteru stated.

Ignoring the hurt in his brother’s voice Kei reminded himself he was here to mend broken fences with his brother instead of throwing the past in his face. What had happened, happened and they couldn’t go back in time to fix it, but they could focus on the present,“you were born first, it’s natural.”

“Alright smartass, but seriously is there something you needed? Help maybe?” 

“I uhm,” god this was embarrassing,“I spent two-thousand dollars on ballet tickets,” he whispered, as if that would make the confession less embarrassing. 

“What?!” 

“Yeah.” 

“So you’re calling me to see if I can get it cancelled? Don’t worry Kei, remember that one year I lived with Nona she taught me all the ins and outs of politely conversing over the phone and just using human decency to get done what needs to happen since people love nice humans. Is this why you called?”

Kei suppressed a snort at his brother’s rant, but admitted what was causing him to be two seconds away from a mental breakdown,“no I uhm...it’s for like uhm a maybe date.”

“A maybe-date?”

“Yes.” 

“A maybe-date?” Akiteru asked again.

“Yes.” 

“No what the hell is a maybe-date?” 

Kei facepalmed, surely it wasn’t a real word but the definition was literally right there,“it’s a date that might or might not happen.”

“Let me guess it might not happen because you didn’t ask the person?”

“No.” 

“Kei.”

“Okay yes,” Kei sighed, face as red as the strawberries he loved so much. 

“You spent two-thousand dollars on a ballet show. Ballet as in the dance...as in something that you don’t find that interesting.”

“Hey I--” Kei tried to protest against every truthful word leaving his brother’s mouth.

“Try lying to somebody who didn’t actually see your diapers get changed.”

Alright that was a quick way to shut him up, Kei forgot this side of his brother with the sharp comments that could rival his own, it probably ran in their family. 

“So who is the lucky person you splurged so much on?”

“Uhm do you know Tobio Kageyama?” 

Kei could hear gasping from the other side, and a barely suppressed chortle. “Do I know Tobio Kageyama, of course I know Tobio Kageyama! Do you know who he is?! A literal prodigy in whatever he puts his mind to.”

“Yeah.” 

“Kei you had posters of him in your room.”

“He did?” it looked like Saeko was back in the room,“he did--”

“Did not!”

“At night he would always say goodnight ‘my future husband’, he had even crossed out Tobio’s last name and replaced it with ours!”

“Ahahahah Kei you manifested this!” Saeko maniacally cackled. 

“Can you stop?” he muttered after the two kept on teasing him for a good four minutes.

“Yeah alright,” Akiteru said, coughing to clear up his throat,“so what do you need advice for?”

“Well I don’t know how to...you know how to do this.”

“Ask him out?”

“Yes people always come to me.”

“Humble much?” Saeko laughed.

“Right?” Akiteru said, answering his wife,“just go to him and be like I have tickets for the ballet do you want to come.”

“He is too oblivious so he won’t get that!”

“What do you mean?”

“Yesterday in bed I asked him if he liked me and he said yes and that was it.”

“Wait rewind, in bed?”

“As in the same bed?” Sakeo asked. 

“Yes.” 

“He lives with you?” Akiteru asked.

“Yes.” 

“And you guys share a bed?” Saeko asked once again. 

“Yes.” 

“Explain,” both of them demanded at the same time.

A bit spooked out by this Kei wondered if this is what marriage did to you, you got to read your spouse’s mind. He still explained to them the whole situation from beginning to end, except for the confessions Tobio and him shared in the dark, he told them practically everything.

“Kei honey,” Saeko said sounding very tired,“for somebody so smart you’re pretty dumb, you do know you guys are practically dating?”

“What?” Kei frowned, logically he already knew this, but it was weird hearing it from somebody else’s mouth.

Akiteru sneezed,“you’re dating little bro, you just don’t know it. It’s like a very slow-burn fanfiction where the main characters are just too dense to realize what’s happening.”

Did Kei want to know what kind of fanfiction his brother read? No. he was all good. “So what you’re saying is if I ask him he’ll say yes?”

“Yeah!” they both shouted, sounding very confident. 

“Okay.” 

They talked for a couple of more minutes and Kei actually felt relieved, changing his brother’s contact information from Akiteru Tsukishima to Big Bro. The wind caressed his face and Kei wondered if this is what healing felt like, actually thinking of visiting his brother. 

Sighing, he looked at Kageyama’s number, it was now or never.

* * *

Walking down the streets and heading to his own apartment to grab some papers he had forgotten Tobio thought about how he felt...which was sad - well not sad, more disappointed that he couldn’t go see The Sleeping Beauty today. He had once watched the NYC Ballet perform the narrative with his grandfather and Miwa, it had been a magical moment. Or maybe the magic came with the company, but Tobio wanted to feel like that again.

He wanted to walk into the recital hall and watch the ballerina’s jump around, looking like they were floating, transfixing the audience with their beauty and elegance. He wanted to taste the innocent wonder he had felt back then, when his eyes were wide, and he never wanted the show to end. Wanted to sit there forever watching the dancers dance, bringing a story alive without any word, only using facial expressions and their bodies. 

It just wasn’t meant to be, Tobio accepted that the fact it took so much effort to see the play was a sign from above that the past should remain in the past, no matter how often he found himself travelling down memory lane. Seeing both the good and bad, wishing for more time. 

Accepting that he was an actual adult now, Tobio knew he should just stop with his relentless efforts to catch the show. He should give it up and let himself enjoy the good memories. What would he do if he went to the show and it wasn’t magical anymore? What then? 

Yes this was for the best, scratching his cheek, he pulled out his phone from his pocket, there was no use reminiscing about the past when he had his whole future in front of him. Swiping right he picked up Tsukishima’s call,“hello?” 

“Hi.” 

“Did you need something?” Tobio asked, as he walked into his apartment building, waiting for the elevator to arrive.

“Always straight to the point,” the blond teased. 

Tobio rolled his eyes at this,“do we need any groceries?” he asked, shifting from side to side as he waited on the elevator. 

“No but I have a question.”

“Okay?” 

“Are you at your other apartment?”

“Yes,” Tobio said, entering the elevator and pressing the button for his floor. 

“Okay good,” Tsukishima sounded like he was chugging water or something but that didn't make sense because why would the blond want to do that? “Uhm do you,” Tsukishima coughed,“do you want to go on a date with me?” 

Tobio opened and closed his mouth, the keys he was holding dropping on the dirty elevator floor,“a date?” he asked, double checking he heard the blond right, crouching down he retrieved his keys.

“Yes,” Tsukishima said.

Swallowing Tobio walked out of the elevator once the doors opened, furiously nodding his head before scowling when he realized the blond couldn’t see him,“yes!” he practically shouted. 

“Oh okay,” Tsukishima let out a breathy laugh. “So be ready in two hours.”

“Wait, you want to go on a date tonight?” Sure Tobio wasn’t a dating expert but he was certain you had to give a longer heads up.

“Yes, be ready in two hours and also wear formal clothing.”

“Like a suit?”

“Yes.” 

“Are you uhm...uhm are you telling me where we are going?” he asked, heart racing, ears reddening as he realized the blond had actually asked him out. 

“I could but there’s no fun in that,” Tsukishima laughed.

“Asshole,” Tobio said,“I’m cancelling the date.”

“Sorry there’s a policy against same day cancellation, try again another time.”

Tobio huffed out a little laugh,“asshole,” he fondly muttered once again.

“Yeah, just be ready in two.”

“Okay.” 

“Bye Tobes.”

“Bye Kei.” 

Tobio hadn’t even realized he had stopped walking standing in the middle of the hallway with a stupid smile on his face. He was going on a date. An honest to god date with Tsukishima. He wondered where the blond would take him, for a second overcome with an air of familiarity, like he already knew where they were going. 

Shaking his head Tobio headed down to his apartment, he had a date to get ready for. 

* * *

Kei always had been well sought after since a young age, and maybe he used this to his advantage to experience things he knew for certain he wouldn’t ever feel, because he was locked up tight, as tight as a chest that contained the gold of the people, rather thrown overboard than given to the starving. So yeah Kei had experience, but this...this was something else.

This was his heart pounding in his chest, his throat being really fucking dry, and palms so sweaty it felt like he sat in a car on a hot summer day, all because of a certain Tobio Kageyama who wore a simple plain black suit. It was as simple of a suit as one could get yet the man made it look like the god’s above had bestowed it on him. Or maybe it was the way Kageyama’s eyes sparkled while they walked into the recital hall. A childlike gleam surrounding him, looking at wonder at everything that was happening. 

Kei swallowed as they took their seats, quickly wiping his hands against his own silver suit, and he was glad he did so as Kageyama leaned over intertwining their fingers together,“how’d you do this, the tickets were all sold out,” Kageyama muttered.

Shrugging Kei smirked,“a magician never reveals his secrets,” spending a good amount of money. Kei spent a very big amount of money for a show he wasn’t looking forward to, but Kageyama was and that was all that mattered. 

“You’re a magician?”

“No I--”

“Shhh,” Kageyama shushed him as the lights began to dim, setting the scene in a ballroom with a King and Queen, and a baby. Kei figured that this was the opening for the Sleeping Beauty where the party was being held and the young princess Aurora was going to get cursed. He had to say the costumes were really good, they seemed accurate to the period of when the story was taking place. 

Kei was surprised to say that he was actually enjoying himself, he thinks the main reason he was never really interested in ballet was because he didn’t understand how the dance form would be able to convey a story through only using facial expressions and body language. As somebody who relied on his words it just didn’t make sense, but here he was with Kageyama who relied on his body language to convey what he was feeling and Kei understood how the dance form worked. How the whole piece came together from the music to the storyline itself in such a satisfying way, the ballerinas looked ethereal, drawing in the audience's attention through floating around the stage. Their moves all had a killing precision to it, reminding him of knives pinpointing people, it was enthralling and exactly what the dancers wanted. 

The suitors pursuiting Aurora, who in turn with the music held on to each individual suitor before balancing on her tippy toes, arms elegantly in the air, and other legs swung back all on her own. Impressive wasn’t a big enough word to capture how much strength the ballerina had, as she used the laws of physics in her favor. By making it look effortlessly she enthralled the whole dance recital, however Kei’s eyes had begun to stray away to the man beside him, who let out an adorable soft gasp, blue eyes shining so brightly they looked like a cloud clear day on a sunny morning. Slowly licking his lip Kageyama pointed at the ballerina,“what she is currently doing is the hardest part of the whole performance, because look when she balances all by herself she has to remain en pointe while trying not to fall, or slacking in posture.” 

Kei nodded, seeing what Kageyama meant just imagining the strain on the dancer’s body had him aching, Kei knew for a fact he would have been shaking from the top of his head to the bottom of his feet. Yet the ballerina kept her stance perfectly, remaining as still as a statue, before lowering her hand and taking hold of the next suitor that appeared in front of her. 

Overall Kei could say he truly enjoyed himself, even when his eyes occasionally trailed off to look at Kageyama who was absolutely invested into the whole dance. He had come to enjoy the beauty of ballet, but he was glad to finally be back home, after grabbing a quick dinner that both men had enjoyed in a relative silence just reflecting on everything that had happened.

“That was awesome!” Kageyama gushed, sitting across from him before getting up. Straightening his arm before moving it backwards Kageyama gracefully spun around,“she opened it like that right and ended it doing the opposite so does that mean everything came to be a full circle? Like the story had a happy ending...just like the beginning since it began with the King and Queen being happy about their daughter’s birth right?”

“Yeah,” Kei tried to not show his surprise at the amount of thought Kageyama had put in that question, but then again once Kageyama got excited over something he actually used his big, beautiful head for it. 

Standing up as well Kei took Kageyama’s hand leading him upstairs to the bedroom, he was exhausted although that did not appear to be the case for the man behind him. Who rambled on,“woah! Did you see how she kept up the routine even though one of the guys messed up and held their arms too low for her to hold? I wonder if this has happened before? Do you think she has ever forgotten a move right during a performance? Do you think she gets along with the rest of the cast? Maybe she is used to guy being a...oh oh..wait what if she--”

“King,” Kei said, a small smile on his face Kageyama rambled about the things he liked, asking and answering his own questions, it was adorable whenever it happened aloud. Since Kei had no trouble believing that this was basically how Kageyama thought, too fast to keep up or nothing at all, just a steady breeze of calmness. It was kind of impressive how the man was able to speak faster than Hinata at times.

“Yeah?” Kageyama asked not meeting his eyes looking at the ground instead,“I am...uhm sorry you should have stopp-”

Kei shook his head frowning when he realized Tobio couldn’t even see it, eyes still downcast. “Yes. Probably. She’s human so I guess so. That I don’t know.”

“Huh?”

“Your answers, now continue your rambling.” Flashing him a smile that showed off his dimples Kageyama threw himself at him once they arrived at the top of the stairs causing Kei to take a few steps back,“oof,” he groaned, tightening his hold on Kageyama as he did so. 

“You make me happy,” Kageyama muttered, and it took all of Kei’s willpower not to turn as red as a tomato, the other man continued his rambling as they shuffled into the bedroom. Kei answered each question thrown at him to the best of his abilities. 

Once Kageyama finally calmed down a bit he asked the question plaguing his mind,“did you have fun?” Rationally he knew Kageyama had fun, but still, what if he didn’t?

“Yes, thank you,” Kageyama stepped closer to him, their noses almost stepping as they looked into each other’s eyes, it took all of Kei’s willpower not to look at Kageyama’s lips. “I really had fun today.”

“Good first date.”

“Best first date.”

“Yeah,” Kei agreed,“best first date,” leaning in closer Kei rested his forehead against Kageyama’s, giving into temptation and looking at those full lips, he knew it was against every first date rule ever yet he asked,“may I?” 

“Yes,” Kageyama breathed out, knowing exactly what Kei was asking for. 

Swooping down, Kei claimed Kageyama’s lips with his own, their kiss was everything and nothing like he had expected. It was an imperfect perfect first kiss that would pave the road for many more, an intricate dance they would master until they got it right and then practice until they couldn’t get it wrong anymore. Kei was the first one to break the kiss, and seeing Kageyama’s smirk he knew he would be reminded of this in the upcoming future, his boyfriend’s? competitive side showing. 

Opening his mouth to retort and defend his honor he was quickly silenced by Kageyama who sat down on the bed. Giving him eyes that Kei knew were only meant for him, were only meant between these walls far away from strangers that thought they knew them. From band members to fellow cast mates, this was between them for them. 

“Are you sure?” Kei asked, seeing the unspoken question in Kageyama’s eyes. Kageyama nodded, Kei shook his head,“I need to hear you say it,” he whispered cupping Kageyama’s face as he took his place in between the shorter man’s legs. 

“Yes I am sure...very sure...super duper sure.”

“Tobio I don’t want you to rush into this thinking that I’ll leave if you say no.”

Kageyama sighed,“stop worrying, I want this, I want us, and I want you.”

“Bu--”

Kageyama held up his hand,“I trust you...and I trust that you trust me.”

“Alright King.”

“Alright,” Kageyama mimicked. Kei smirked, golden eyes glistening with excitement as he leaned down claiming Kageyama’s lips with his own. It was going to be a good night, a very good night at that. And god’s was it easily one of the best nights Kei ever had. Enjoying the afterglow of it all, he held Kageyama in his arms who had begun to trace his tattoos,"hey, Tobes," he muttered softly, not wanting to interrupt the tranquility in which they were relishing. 

"Yeah?" Kageyama replied equally as soft.

Kei wondered if this was the right time to ask for advice but decided to fuck it. Who knows maybe his King was smarter during the relaxation of the afterglow. “Tadashi and Shouyou have been acting weird lately,” he said, finally voicing the thoughts that had been plaguing them for months. His friends had been acting very weird ever since they lived in New York...the air between the two was always fuelled with competition and Kei couldn’t phantom why. 

“Really?” Kageyama asked, looking up at Kei from beneath his long lashes, causing a dark possessive wave to swirl around the pit’s of Kei’s stomach as he wanted that look only directed to him.

Mentally slapping himself out of it he answered Kageyama’s question,“yeah they’re acting weird, and I don’t know why.”

Kageyama smiled,“woah a salty bastard that actually cares about his friends,” he teased Kei. 

Narrowing his eyes at Kageyama, Kei’s hand trailed down the man’s soft skin, letting them wander down Kageyama’s sides where he knew the other man was ticklish. Who had begun to wiggle, but Kei wasn’t done with him yet. Feeling warm skin beneath his fingers, he smirked as his hands found their way around Kageyama’s ass, cupping the perfect bubbly butt, before squeezing it _hard_. 

Kageyama gasped, hitting Kei’s chest,“ouch you bastard!” he moaned out. 

Kei just laughed,“sorry babe,” he muttered very unapologetically, watching with delight as a pretty pink color was travelling up Kageyama’s face. 

“Asshole,” Kageyama muttered, and before Kei could even think of a retort the man said something so incredibly stupid that Kei wondered if every smart thing that had left Kageyama’s mouth tonight had been a fluke. If the man had been wearing like a mic in which he was getting information from somebody smart to say what sounded smart. “The reason why Shouyou and Tadashi are acting weird is because of the water.”

“Come again?” 

“The water Kei,” Kageyama said, and Kei could see how the man believed every single word leaving his mouth, the mic probably had fallen off when they were shedding their clothes as if they had no time in the world,“the water here is very good and they probably never had that good of water. So now that they have it, it is too much and they are acting weird.”

Kei opened and closed his mouth before nodding. The blond had millions of fans all over the world, all lined up to catch a glimpse of him, and from those million he had chosen Tobio Kageyama, a man who lacked a lot of common sense, yet Kei wouldn’t change it for the world, he liked his dumb boyfriend? Seriously what were they?!

As if Kageyama could read his mind he answered Kei’s question,“since we’re dating now and are boyfriends, does this mean I’m not allowed to go onto your phone anymore?”

'Tobio if you can read my mind hum something,' he quickly thought, jut to make sure his boyfriend wasn't like a mind reader, once he was certain he asked for clarification,“what?” 

“Well most people in relationships don’t like their partner to go through their phones, so am I not allowed to go on your phone anymore?”

“From where did you even get such an absurd idea.”

“Reddit.”

That made sense but still,“Reddit is toxic my King--”

“It’s a yes or no question Kei, but if the answer is no we can’t be boyfriends we’ll just have to be man friends.”

Kei liked his dumb boyfriend, he had literally said that two seconds ago but still woah, did his King blow his mind sometimes,“you’re still allowed to use my phone,” he settled on.

“Oh that’s good," Kageyama sighed sounding genuinely relieved,"because I was bluffing when I said we had to break up. If I wasn’t allowed to go on it, I would have respected your decision even if I didn’t like it.”

Kei was too tired to tell his boyfriend he was banned from Reddit,“I know,” he hummed.

“Good.” 

“Okay, good night.”

“Good night,” Kageyama whispered, tightening his grip on _his_ King, Kei was about to travel to dreamland when Kageyama spoke up again,“do you think the ballerina drinks milk as well and that’s why her bones are so strong? What milk would she drink? I bet it’s fresh--

\--it was going to be a long night, but who was Kei if he wasn’t a simple court jester there to entertain his King, even when said King asked some really fucking stupid questions.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It happened, smack dab boom, bam oof yasss!! I actually watched a 2 hour and 34 minute long ballet video of the Sleeping Beauty for this, it was really good...but kind of wack how there wasn't as much ballet as I wanted to but meh what can I do about that. I hope it was worth the tension building up between the two idiots. Like yasss get your goods my dudes. This chapter would have been done so much sooner since I was actually really excited to write but I instead I had multiple writing breakdowns, and vowed to never write again...all because a professor cut right through me and absolutely shattered my writing confidence, because my work "lacks originality and has a lazy execution", okay whatever it was a non-fictional memory...but oof I already have ranted about this multiple times...your honour they are in love and the prove is right here!! I've got some snippets for the upcoming chapters, so if I just do me I should be able to soon, post them, but no promises. Also this chapter is 6000+ words even though it didn't feel like that writing because of how invested I was.  
> *I was actually going to post something else for Tsukikage day but like yeah no I'm depressed so I'll just leave it with this cute chapter where they finally do everything they need to, and get their heads out of their asses!!!  
> **this was the chapter where I was thinking of changing the rating to idk expand more on the smick smak dab bam boom but then I was like nahhh I don't feel like it...since t is in my head kind of like pg 13 all the riskiness was within a reasonable limit if that makes sense...  
> ***leave a comment since they do make my day and thank you all for the 172 kudos like whaaaat?!  
> ****also not edited because I'm tired, I'll get around to it one day


	9. Why Are You So Good?

Shouyou was stressed he couldn’t believe his luck or well to be more specific how bad his luck was. His younger sister Natsu was a good kid, obviously he was biased but she truly was amazing and he loved her. Now the problem he had was that her birthday was coming up, he couldn’t believe his little sister was turning thirteen, and all she wanted was this galaxy themed dress designed by Mika Yamaka, it was a very pretty dress even Kageyama had agreed on it when Shouyou send a picture, so that meant he had to get it for his sister and be the best big brother ever. 

Or well that would have been the case if it weren’t for the fact that he was late and Mika was fully booked. So now he wasn’t only running late getting a present for Natsu, but he was also late for his lunch date with Tsukishima...because that was what it was, no matter what Yamaguchi said. If somebody took you to lunch, asked about how you were doing and paid for you it was practically a date. 

Hurriedly grabbing a bright pink neon jacket and throwing one red and white shoe since he couldn’t find the right pairs, he ran out of the door. Glad the diner they were eating at was only a ten minute walk away from his and Yamaguchi’s shared apartment...and since Shouyou was fast it was more like four minutes running. 

Summoning his inner flash, Shouyou sprinted down the street, not minding the stoplight that was counting down from ten seconds. It was exhilarating feeling the wind against his face, the cars zooming past him, making him feel invincible. It was moments like these Shouyou wished he had gone into athletics, track and field or something, running just got him so excited.

Once he finally saw the colorful display of the diner he slowed down, catching his breath that had finally begun to run out. Bending over he rested his hands on his knees, chest heaving up and down, as he took in as much oxygen as he could. Closing his eyes he calmed himself down, once he felt relatively calm he opened his eyes, bringing his hands up to his face, feeling it, he deemed himself ready to face Tsukishima. 

The blond didn’t even look up as Shouyou slid into the booth, sitting across from the other man, their legs almost brushing together, due to how tall Tsukishima was,“hi,” he greeted, a big smile on his face. It was kind of weird how Tsukishima hadn’t commented on him running all the way here, and still being late...by two minutes...and the outfit he was wearing, which Tsukishima would surely label a monstrosity to his eyes.

Tsukishima looked up from his phone, nodding at him, the man was probably in a very good mood...a very good mood as he smiled at his phone. What the heck? Not spending more time wondering about it, Shouyou's attention was quickly captured by the cute diner they were in.

Looking around he admired how Holllywoody the place looked, like a movie set, straight out of those 90s movies that were supposed to set place in the 50s. It had a modern retro vibe to it, that Shouyou bet he would have enjoyed more at night, when the neon lights would reflect all over the glass surfaces. He wished he and Tsukishima could enjoy dinner together, but the younger man was always so busy, probably caught up with work, often choosing to stay in his penthouse, cooped up inside as he worked on stuff, all by himself. Poor soul. He was such a hard worker and had to be all by himself. Doing a lot of important things and stuff. 

Mood turning sour, Shouyou perked up as he heard Ariana Grande play over the speakers a song that he knew! Humming along to the song, he was caught up in the music,“but it was all in my heeeeeeeaayayayad...running from your issues….I figured wait work it out...made you everything you are...that’s the issus duh, said maybe that’s the issue ahah, can’t hold that shit against you, guess I did it to myself yeah, but you were somebody else, but you were somebody else you...” Moving his head side to side he jammed out, getting excited as he also happened to know the next song Find You by Nick Jones began to play, Shouyou wondered who had gotten dumped or rejected, for them to put together such a good, sad playlist. “Where to find you,” he sang softly, shoulders moving up and down,“duooooooh where to find you…try try try but I...”

Tsukishima finally put his phone down, Shouyou pointed at him while singing,“you think you know how to get under my skin, it's good for now but it's never permanent, knock on the door but there's no one listening. and I never really know just where to find you.”

Rolling golden eyes, Tsukishima just shook his head clearly used to Shouyou’s antics, handing him the menu, Shouyou thanked him, still dancing in his seat, humming the song underneath his breath. Looking over the different foods he gasped at the fact that they had crepes with ham and cheese...which sounded both gross and very good, he absolutely had to try it. “What are you getting?” 

“I’m thinking about a salad or something?”

“Boh-ring,” Shouyou said, scrunching up his nose,“it is lunchtime not snack time,” as his eyes also looked at the beef burger, and the chocolate milkshake.

“A salad is a valid dish to eat during lunch.”

Raising his eyebrows in disbelief, Shouyou stuck out his tongue,“a salad isn’t a dish it is a side…a side that isn't filling by itself.” 

Tsukishima shrugged, scanning the menu,“I had a big breakfast, plus I’ll get a strawberry milkshake that will help.”

Frowning at this Shouyou wondered what that meant, Tsukishima didn’t cook, everybody knew that. The man was surprisingly bad in the kitchen, Shouyou suspected it was because he was the baby of his family, probably coddled by everybody. Maybe it was a saying or something...yeah it probably was like uhm...an idiom? Yeah that sounded about right, if Shouyou remembered correctly an idiom was an exaggerated statement or something like that... 

Mouth already watering thinking about the delicious food, Shouyou completely missed the way Tsukishima’s entire face lit up as he looked at something on his phone. When his eyes finally did look over to the blond he was surprised to see an unfamiliar softness overcome sharp features.

“Kei are you okay?” he asked, genuinely concerned about his friend. 

Eyebrows drawing together, Tsukishima shook his head,“yeah, why wouldn’t I be?” he answered, putting his phone back on the table. 

Shouyou shrugged, grinning,“it probably has to do with how you don’t look scary.”

Tsukishima face palmed,“I don’t know why I thought something useful might leave your mouth.”

“Ouch meanie! Take it back!”

“No you deserve it.” 

“Take it back!”

“No.” 

“Ta--,” a familiar song started to play, pursing his lips together. Shouyou thought about the melody and words, it sounded so familiar...why did it sound so familiar? Snapping his finger together, Shouyou finally knew what song was,“I'm jealous of the love, love that was in here...and I told you when you left me, there's nothing to forgive...”

“Jealous by Labrinth,” Tsukishima said, as Shouyou raised his hands into the air moving them side to side. The blond sighed, nodding his head at something behind Shouyou,“the waitress is coming.” 

Quickly putting his hands down, Shouyou tapped his foot along with the beat. The waitress came and they both ordered their food. Noticing a big black bag next to Tsukishima, Shouyou pointed at it,“what’s that?”

“A bag.”

Tsukishima’s sarcasm was funny and somewhat charming when it wasn’t directed to him. Blinking up at Tsukishima he said,“your sarcasm is great, but what is in your bag?”

“Wouldn’t you like to know?” Tsukishima smirked, his annoyingly handsome smirk, just radiating like bawwhh energy. 

“Yes I would like to know,” Shouyou answered, feeling himself heat up, with both anger and whatever the butterflies fluttering in his stomach were carrying. Gosh! It was hard seducing somebody who so...sharp.

“Did you Tetsurou talk to you about the band’s upcoming album yet?”

Shouyou nodded,“yeah, I think it’s kind of cool that we're going with a gothic romance theme.” 

Expecting the blond to call it stupid and not like their first album that had a ‘learning to fall’ type of vibe to it, but like dark. Instead he was surprised when the blond actually looked excited, sitting up straighter. What was that all about? 

“Do you like the theme as well?” he asked, just to make sure he wasn’t reading Tsukishima wrong. 

“Yeah, I think it sounds interesting,” Tsukishima tried and failed to sound not excited. 

“What do you think the colors of this album are going to be?” 

For their Nocturnal Animals album the colors they were going to were the one actual nocturnal animals had when they looked at night - or well that was how it was explained to Shouyou, and he remembered it sounding cool the same way the gothic romance sounded.

Before Tsukishima could even reply, Shouyou answered his own question,“ooh what if it’s like black and red, like Dracula!” 

Tsukishima huffed, shaking his head, crossing his arms over each, leaning back against the red leather seats of the booth they were sitting in,“no, it’s going to be black and blue.” 

“Black and blue?” Shouyou parroted, tilting his head to the side as he imagined it,“heh,” he laughed, remembering his competitor Kageyama. 

“What?” 

“Black and blue reminds me of Tobio, I bet he would pull off that theme really well. Like he is already really good looking,” he commented, offhandedly missing the way Tsukishima narrowed his eyes at him,“like super pretty, but he would look so good in a gothic aesthetic like those creepy animated movies...you know which ones I’m talking about?”

“Ye--”

“Like those movies!” Shouyou gasped,“woooaha I just had a genius idea!”

“I doubt it.”

“Oh shut it! But I was saying we should have Tobio model for us...for like the cover. Remember how we used Kenma’s eyes last time? Something like that.”

“Have my King model for us?” 

Shouyou completely missed Tsukishima’s slip up, giggling at the fact that he had proved the blond wrong and came up with a smart idea. “Yes! He is a professional and very good at what he does!” 

“I--”

“--here are your drinks gentleman,” the waitress said carrying a tray with two shakes on them.

“Thank you,” they both said.

“Anything else you guys want?” she asked, her curly hair that was in a ponytail bobbing up and down. 

“No, thank you.”

“We’re all good, thanks.”

“Alrighty the food be out in a moment,” she smiled, walking away. 

“So back to what I was saying...Tobio in a gothic type of look! With dark makeup and all, he’ll look so good Kei! Like wahhh and fwahha.” 

Tsukishima swallowed,“uhm yeah sure,” he said, wiggling in his seat. 

The waitress came back with their food, and they enjoyed it mostly in silence, Shouyou himself breaking it to sing along to another sad love song. Seriously, who had gotten dumped or rejected? He couldn’t relate. 

“This is the first time you didn’t mention your family at all,” Tsukishima said, as he finished his salad, only drinking his milkshake, even though he complained about it, saying the ones he got at home were better, whatever that meant. 

Shouyou swallowed his bite of the burger,“well I didn’t think you’d be interested.”

“That has never stopped you before, how is your family?”

Eyes widening in surprise, his heart accelerated the way it did when he had run earlier today,“they’re good,” he answered. 

“How about Natsu, did you get her the dress she wanted?” 

Dejectedly staring into his milkshake, he used his straw to scoop up some whipping cream, swallowing it,“no,” he sighed,“I didn’t. I already told you this, didn’t I?” 

“Yeah, just making sure so I don’t look stupid.”

Frowning, Shouyou looked up from his milkshake, what was happening to Tsukishima these days? Was he okay? “Whaaat?” Tsukishima grabbed the bag, handing it over to Shouyou who took it in confusion,“is this for me?”

“Guess so,” Tsukishima shrugged.

Wiping his hands off with a paper napkin he felt the box that was in the bag, what could Tsukishima possibly have gotten him? Sliding the lid of the box, his mouth fell open, eyes bulging, as he looked at fabric that looked a bit too much like the galaxy. “Is this...is this what I think it is?” he asked, letting his hands touch the surprisingly soft fabric. 

“Yeah it’s the galaxy dress.”

“Whaaat? Hoooow?”

“I got my connections.” 

“Oh my god!” Shouyou yelled,“thank you, thank you, thank you!” he said, eyes watering.

“Don’t go crying on me now,” Tsukishima teased gently. 

“I’m nooot,” Shouyou blubbered knowing damn well the dam was about to break.

Kei Tsukishima actually cared about Shouyou...he was a good guy, handsome as hell, that actually cared about Shouyou and bought him the sold out dress to give to his younger sister. This tall, blond, work of god was a keeper, and Shouyou would do everything in his power to keep that so. 

* * *

Tadashi sighed again, as Tsukishima side-eyed him,“you good?”

“No,” Tadashi answered, shoulders slumping over, him and Tsukishima were hanging out in the apartment he shared with Hinata, the redhead having left to hang out with Bokuto, or well more like shadow the vocalist. 

“Wanna talk about it?” Tsukishima asked, pausing the animated movie they had been watching. 

“No,” Tadashi muttered like a petulant child. How was he supposed to tell his best friend who also happened to be his crush that he felt defeated, that Hinata was going to end up with him, and Tadashi would be forgotten. 

There were a few beats of silence before Tsukishima shook his head,“yeah no, what’s up? You have been looking down lately.” 

Flopping down backwards on his bed, he looked at the ceiling, remembering how Tsukishima used to have stars growing up, which eventually also made their way in Tadashi’s room. Tsukishima set the laptop on top of the nightstand and laid down next to him. 

“Remember how you used to have stars on your ceiling?” 

“Yeah and then you copied me.”

“It’s free real-estate,” Tadashi deadpanned causing Tsukishima to snort. 

“You literally stole some of my ceiling, and then cried when you found out they didn’t stick anymore.”

The corners of Tadashi’s mouth lifted up into a smile,“what do you not understand about the word free Tsukki? And also how was I supposed to know that would happen.”

“The stars were big stickers.”

“Oh give me a break I was like eight or ten.”

“Whatever, why are you avoiding the question though?”

Tadashi didn’t know how to explain it but his best friend seemed different, the air surrounding him had changed, he seemed lighter. Which was weird since Tsukishima always seemed to have a huge dark cloud following him, just waiting to burst and ruin the blond’s day. 

“Why are you pressuring me?” Tadashi countered. This was one of the changes Tadashi had noticed, Tsukishima called him out more often, almost as if he forgot who he was dealing with. It was weird to see this caring side of Tsukishima so out in the open. 

“You’re changing the topic now, and if I don’t get the answer today, I will never get it.”

It was true but still, Tsukishima wasn’t ever this direct. Looked like working together in the same office space had been rubbing off on the blond. Since he had somehow managed to adopt some of Kageyama’s characteristics, it was scary and cute. Tadashi wondered what Tsukishima had picked up from him, that he incorporated in his daily life, it was probably this caring side of his. 

“Huh,” Tadashi hummed, bringing his arms behind his head,“you seem different these days. Why?” 

“If I tell you, will you tell me what’s up with you?” 

Woah. Usually his best friend would have just put up the movie instead of talking about their feelings but here they were. 

“Deal,” Tadashi agreed, honestly curious to what could have caused this switch in Tsukishima. 

“Akiteru and I are good,” the blond muttered,“after the gala at the end of the month, I’m going to fly out and spend like two weeks with him and Saeko,” Tsukishima smiled.

“Tsukki!” Tadashi exclaimed, very happy for his friend, and his reconciliation with his brother,“that’s great!” 

“Yeah,” the blond scratched his cheek,“now what about you?”

“What about me?”

“Quit playing dumb, what’s up with you?” 

Sighing deeply, Tadashi got up, sitting on his knees he turned to Tsukishima who was still laying down,“I feel like everybody is moving so far in life that I’m going to get forgotten,” he muttered, and that was a fear that had be gnawing at him. “And...and it is hard in the presence of Tobio who had already accomplished so much in life. You know? Like life just seems so much in his favor.”

Tsukishima also got up from his lying down position, eyes hardening, and clenching his jaw, looking angry, but Tadashi couldn’t phantom why. Was it perhaps because Tadashi thought he was forgettable? 

“It’s easier to compare your life to others when you don’t know them,” Tsukishima gritted out, before exhaling, and relaxing his body that had gotten tense,“look Tadashi you’re not forgettable, plus look at all you have managed to do in life.”

“Nothing.” 

“That’s not true, your photographs win prizes every year, you’re one of the most sought out photographers ever. People from all around the globe call you.”

“Yeah but still…”

“It’s easy to feel down when your mind is against you, but let me ask you this, have I ever lied to you?”

Tadashi shook his head.

“Then why would I now?” Tsukishima asked,“you have accomplished so much, you went from being bullied in school to the valedictorian of our year. You then followed your dream of becoming a photographer, and actually succeeding in such a competitive job market. People know who you are, they know your work, and most importantly you know your worth.”

“Huh?” 

“Remember how much of a pushover you were in elementary?” 

“No.” Tadashi did remember being a pushover letting people walk over him too scared to say no, for the fear of getting bullied which happened regardless, Tsukishima being the one to put a stop to it. 

“Funny,” Tsukishima deadpanned,“but you know your worth, you walk away from people when the energy surrounding them is toxic, and you know when to say no, so you’re not ever going to be left behind by any of us...hell you’re literally in all of the group chats Shouyou is in!” 

Tadashi smiled at this,“are you still angry about the Halloween candy.”

“Yes, I worked very hard and you just gave it all away.”

In the last year of high school, Hinata, Yachi, Tsukishima, and Tadashi all went trick-or-treating as their way to say bye to high school and having the time to do this. They stumbled upon a group of kids whose entire bags of candies fell into an open excavation. And then Tadashi had forced Tsukishima to give his candy away, along with the rest of them. 

Laughing Tadashi covered his mouth, a habit he had since forever,“your arguments to keep the candy were dumb anyway,” he reminisced.

“Ouch.” 

They both broke into a fit of giggles, and for a minute they were back in elementary doing readings for class and laughing about the word poop. It was a nice moment of tranquility that ended way too fast for Tadashi’s liking, as Tsukishima walked to the bag with the snacks he had gotten. 

“Here,” he said, handing Tadashi the bag who looked at it suspiciously,“what is it Tsukki?” he asked. 

“A gift just open it.”

“You got me snacks? Thanks,” he grinned, mimicking the blond’s dead tone. 

Tsukishima rolled his eyes,“just open the bag.”

“Alright mister impatience.” Tadashi opened the bag, looking at a box covered in red wrapping paper, hidden beneath piles of snacks, grabbing the box, he was surprised to feel that it was heavy. Shuffling to the side of the bed, putting his legs down, so the box could rest on his lap. Putting the bag down, he hesitantly unwrapped the box, gasping when he saw what it was.

“You’re welcome,” Tsukishima grinned.

“This is the newest camera that isn’t released yet!” Tadashi shouted,“how the hell did you manage to get it?!”

Shrugging Tsukishima just tutted,“tt can’t reveal all of my secrets now.” 

“I can--”

“If you don’t accept this it will go to waste.”

“I--” 

“You don’t have a choice.”

Tadashi furiously blinked the tears of gratification away,“I understand now why Shouyou calls you a salty bastard,” he giggled albeit he sounded a bit plugged.

“Ouch Tadashi.” 

“Thank you Tsukki,” he whispered.

“No problems Yams,” Tsukishima smiled.

Tadashi knew for certain he needed to confess his feelings for his best friend and tell him he felt about him, because the man in front of him was a good one, and they were hard to come by. Tadashi was just grateful he saw Tsukishima mature in front of him, hoping to see more of the smiles Tsukishima had been handing out freely lately. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Woah this basically like two updates back to back dayummmm....this chapter is not edited because I am physically unable to edit without you know...the threat of a mark that will ruin my g.p.a and pound it into the ground...also because my work get unexciting as I edit it because I'm like damn I threw all the clichés ever in a blender and ended up with this trash (with a French accent because it's fancy)...that being said I'm really excited for the next chapter and it should be ready for showtime either this week or the next...Have good day/night/whatever since time is fake y'all!!!!! You guys should listen to all the music I mentioned because it slaps ngl :)))


	10. But You Were Somebody Else...You

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay I never do beginning notes but oof y'all should be so glad this story is still alive and well like I accidentally almost totally deleted it, while trying to respond to comments but I wasn't thinking uggh long story short this almost got deleted and if it weren't for AO3's are you sure button all my hardwork would have gone....okay that was me rambling enjoy this chapter!!  
> *Some references made to events that happened in chapter 2 might want to read that to refresh your memory, you don't have to.

Hinata was blabbering next to Kei about something, probably about how impressive the hotel in which the gala was hosted was. Something along the lines of how it came straight out of the movies, with big chandeliers, a black and white tiled floor that was so shiny the reflection of every chandelier was crystal clear, and how everything had golden accents to it making it so fancy. Kei personally thought the place was pompous just like the people in here, no matter how excited Hinata got over their clothing. The older man had been trying to educate Kei on the fashion industry like Kei didn’t have his King to do that, but since said King ~~asked~~ ordered him to be nicer to his friends he was listening to whatever left Hinata’s mouth about fashion. 

The band was only here because this was a network gala with some of the most influential people in the industry. It would be good for the band to meet up with other artists, get to know them formally and then decide with whom they should collaborate. For his own personal ep Kei had already written a song that both he and Tobio would sing. He still had to convince Tobio, who still held onto the fear of the public turning against him...which was stupid since Tobio was absolutely perfect, and no Kei wasn’t biased whatsoever.

Literally the only bonus of being here was that Kageyama was also going to be here as after spending a day hanging out with Sakusa. Much to Kei’s dismay since this was technically going to be their last day together. It was already the first of November, which meant that Kei would have to catch his six-hour long flight tomorrow morning to Seattle to spend two weeks with Akiteru and Saeko. And if that wasn’t bad enough, the day he would be coming back his boyfriend would still be in Hawaii for a modeling campaign and his niece’s birthday. Kei didn’t like the idea of spending three weeks apart from Kageyama but it was what it was, so they just had to make the most out of today, even though Kei would rather be at home and watch TLC together since Kageyama absolutely loved ‘Say Yes to the Dress’, no matter how much he denied it. 

“Oh look!” Hinata yelled,“it’s Tobio!” pointing at Kageyama. 

Swallowing Kei tuned out Hinata who had begun to ramble, turning around he only had eyes for his boyfriend who was dressed to the nines, looking absolutely delectable, in a dark blue suit that had different flowers embroidered in it. The suit was nice, however it didn’t swallow Kageyama up, like some of the clothing did to their wearer. No. Kageyama wore that suit instead of the suit wearing him. He looked like the King he was, head tall, the light from the chandeliers leaving golden streaks behind on top of his head. An almighty King was in their presence outshining the guests of honor, with his simplicity, and natural beauty.

Kei bit his cheek as Kageyama's eyes met his own, blue eyes softening filled with fondness and something Kei was too afraid to name. The world seemed to slow down and fade to the background, as Kageyama gave him a private smile, the one he only reserved for Kei. 

Nodding towards the bathroom he waited for the blue eyed man to get his gesture, very glad that they had gone over it at home. Kageyama shot him a quick thumbs up, was all the reassurance he needed as he started to head towards the bathroom. 

“Where are you going?” Hinata asked, frowning up at him.

“To the bathroom.”

“Oh okay,” Hinata said, before joining Yamaguchi who was talking to Yuuji Terushima, a famous hairstylist, and tattoo artist, who was twirling Yamaguchi’s hair in-between his fingers.

Pulling out a folded piece of paper from his pocket, he peeled off the barrier on top of the double-sided tape, sticking it on the door. Once he was satisfied that the paper would stick he opened the door, waiting for a few seconds, he leaned against the black marble countertops of the sink. The door opened, and Kageyama appeared,“you didn’t even wait five minutes,” he teased.

Kei rolled his eyes,“yeah, yeah, yeah I am desperate. Can you blame me though?” 

Walking over to him Kageyama hugged him, throwing his arms around Kei’s shoulders,“you’re a very big baby,” the man muttered. 

“Says you,” Kei retorted, tightening his hold on Kageyama’s waist, putting his chin on top of his boyfriend’s head, feeling soft silk-like hair tickle him. He wouldn’t mind staying like this forever. 

“You are a big baby.”

“Yes but you’re bigger, crying during Inside Out.” 

Leaning back to look up at him Kageyama scowled,“you’re heartless Kei!” 

Kei had to admit Bing Bong’s scene was sad, but it was also just a part of life, letting go of the things that gave you comfort once, sometimes replacing them with others, and sometimes just letting them be. Kageyama disagreed with this, he had been attentively watching the scene, immediately beginning to sob when he realized what was about to happen.

“Am I though?” 

“Yes,” Kageyama said, not even wasting his breath,“it was sad. Especially when he said,‘take Riley to the moon for me.’ It was just so sad Kei, imagine if that was me and those were my last words ever.”

Kei frowned, he didn’t want to think about his boyfriend...no he isn’t going to think of his boyfriend...yeah no. “Change of conversation,” he declared.

Blinking, while tilting his head to the side, Kageyama looked at him with a lot of endearing transparent confusion in his ocean blues,“okay?” 

“Lets kiss.”

Blushing adorably Kageyama nodded,“yeah okay,” he said. 

Kei flipped their positions so that Kageyama’s back was against the marble countertop, leaning down he captured, Kageyam’s lips with his own. They kissed like they had all the time in the world, slow and leisurely. They were in a bubble of their own, secluded from the outside world, just them together. Kageyama being the first one to pull away today Kei smirked. He had been taking on more cardio exercises at the gym, since Kageyama claimed that yoga helped with being able to kiss longer. 

Ignoring his smirk, and the inevitable teasing of pulling away Kageyama smiled at him, all dimples and sparkling eyes. Kei didn’t understand how people didn’t fall in love with the ocean, the way Kageyama pulled him in, absolutely drowning him in blue. It was enticing and Kei understood why people chased the waves. Not being able to resist temptation Kei leaned down, kissing the other man. He absolutely loved kissing the man, it was one of the best things ever. Kageyama’s kisses were filled with a fierce passion, and loyalty, hiding a subtle layer of shyness and pleasing. Turns out his King was a people pleaser, oftentimes too dense to understand what people were asking from him when it didn't come to work, but the thought of angering people scared the younger man.

Smiling into the kiss Kei was a bit embarrassed how just thinking about Kageyama made him feel like a fool high on the drug called life, on clouds drifting through a soft breeze, it was absolutely pathetic. Kei knew it was pathetic yet he couldn’t find it in himself to be angry about it. Not when the man caused everything he felt, not when it was Tobio Kageyama who got his heart racing and stopping at the same time. Made him feel on top of the world. 

“King,” he muttered, pulling away absolutely overcome with emotions and the need to tell Kageyama. Right when he opened his mouth to lay his heart bare, his phone buzzed. 

Kageyama’s eyes lit up,“Kei you got a message.” 

“Yeah I figured by the buzzing,” Kei deadpanned, grabbing his phone from his pocket and handing it over to Kageyama. 

Sticking his tongue out in concentration Kageyama unlocked his phone. “It’s from,” he mumbled, pressing on the messages icon,“you got two different messages from both Tadashi and Shouyou, they're wondering where you are.”

Kei couldn't believe he got cockblocked by his own friends, actually never mind, he could believe it,“I literally told Shouyou I was going to the bathroom.” 

“This one is out of order though, so maybe they’re searching for you in another bathroom?”

Kei smirked,“no I put that sign there.”

Kageyama’s eyes widened in surprise,“you did? How’d you know the bathroom was out of order?”

Facepalming Kei was once again reminded how dumb his boyfriend was, but it was all good, he lo--liked his oblivious idiot,“I brought the sign with me from home, stuck it to the door, so that nobody would disturb us.”

“Woah. You’re so smart Kei.”

“Yeah I know.”

“So the bathroom is not broken?”

“Tobio!” 

“What?” 

“Did you not hear how I made the sign at home and brought it with me here.” 

“Yes, but does the toilet work?” 

Kei sighed,“yes. The toilet still works.”

“Oh okay, and the sink?”

"Also still works," Kei grumbled. 

Changing the topic before Kageyama could ask another question Kei pressed a quick kiss on the man's cheek, knowing if he kissed the other man’s lips they would have another make-out session, which wasn’t that bad now that he thought about it, but they were both still technically working. 

“Babe your advice was absolutely golden,” Kei said, as Kageyama had opened Twitter and was looking through the memes. 

“What advice?” he asked distractedly, retweeting something funny. 

“When I asked you how to fix whatever was happening with Shouyou and Tadashi.” 

"Oh yeah that advice,” Kageyama mumbled looking up from the phone frowning before returning his attention back to the device,“uhm just remind me what it was again."

"When you said I should spend time with them individually and I should initiate the hangout instead of waiting for them to ask."

Kageyama finally put the phone away, nodding,"that was pretty good advice,” he agreed,“did it work?"

"King!"

"I'm just joking."

"I know you're not,” Kei said, knowing damn well how awful his boyfriend’s memory was if it wasn’t used for something that he liked such as memorizing song lyrics or script lines. 

“Well if you know then why wouldn’t you say if it worked or not?”

“You’re annoying.”

“No you are.” 

“Sure.” 

Kageyama pouted,“you’re not annoying,” he muttered, eyes downcast as a blush appeared on his face. 

Kei would have teased him for it if he weren’t in the same boat, looking up he smiled,“you’re not annoying either, and yes your advice worked great.”

“I’m a genius.”

“No.” 

“Yes.” 

“Babe literally yesterday you asked me where the country Africa is.”

“Kei you know I’m not good at geology,” Kageyama whispered, jutting his bottom lip out. 

“Africa is a continent, and it is geography.”

“Yes that’s what I meant, it’s not my fault they’re basically the same words.”

His adorable, dorky boyfriend, with a self-conscious smile could have been so smart if he actually used his brain. But then again Kageyama was smart when it mattered, crazily observant, always able to catch the slightest change in Kei’s reactions. And that’s how Kei liked him best, just Tobio Kageyama, a gullible, clueless, bratty, idiot. 

“You make me happy,” he whispered, resting his forehead against Kageyama’s, echoing the words the man had said to him after their first official date. 

“You make me happy as well,” Kageyama said, so very pretty and breathless. 

Kei smiled back not even minding how absolutely pathetic he was for the man in front of him. If he could have it his way they would stay here forever, just them and nobody else. Just the two of them forever and ever. God. He was absolutely pathetic and desperate, absolutely desperate. But who cared when he had Kageyama smiling at him like that. 

* * *

Tobio wished he could have spent more time with Tsukishima alone, but alas work had called and the two had to face the music. Walking around talking to a lot of different people, Tobio occasionally pulled Tsukishima’s phone at, liking different memes, grounding him with the amount of people he had to please. Already being approached by different film directors who wanted him to star in one of their tv shows or movies, and Tobio would have said yes, but he remembered the last time he had been on the big screens...to say that went bad was an understatement. Tobio declined them all, and just told them something along the lines of wanting to focus on theatre right now. 

It was exhausting having to network and make sure that people were still interested in him as a potential employee. He had heard too many horror stories of people who had made it only to fade to the background, losing everything they had in the blink of an eye.

Unlocking Tsukishima’s phone as it vibrated in his pocket, he was surprised to see a message from one of the artist was collabing with on his EP. Knowing that he needed to get the phone to Tsukishima he held it in his hand. Where the hell had the blond disappeared to? Getting on his tippy-toes he looked around the hall. How hard could it possibly be to find a six-foot something blond? Apparently really.

Sighing defeatedly, his shoulders slumped over when he heard a familiar laugh,“oh ho ho!” That was Bokuto! The same Bokuto who was friends with Tsukishima and who was in the same band as Tsukishima, which meant he had to know where the blond was. Walking up to the man he wasn’t surprised to see Kuroo there as well. 

Licking his bottom lip, he reminded himself to show good behavior, his lack of manners was something Hinata chided him a lot for,“uhm excuse me?” he asked. 

“Yeah,” Bokuto and Kuroo said at the same time, turning around eyes glinting underneath the chandelier’s lights. 

God they were terrifying up close. He was a bit intimidated by the duo, and by a bit a whole lot, they were people Tsukishima looked up to even though he wouldn’t admit it. The older man would trust their judgement and if they hated Tobio that would mean he would lose his boyfriend. So yes, those two were very...nerve inducing human beings, who could literally end his relationship.

Swallowing he looked at the shining tiled,“uhm have you guys seen Kei?” he muttered, embarrassed, ears beginning to redden as the man began to laugh like Tobio couldn’t hear them.

“Our salty little bastard?” Kuroo smiled. 

“That tall little piece of shit?”

“Yes?” 

“Haven’t seen him,” the two men once again said at the same time. 

“We’ll tell you if we do,” Kuroo winked.

“Totally will...look it’s Keiji,” Bokuto said, pointing at his boyfriend, heading towards him as Kuroo shook his head. 

“Lovesick fool, no cure there,” the other man smiled, still following his friend though,“bye Tobio,” he waved over his shoulder. 

“Bye bye,” Bokuto said as well.

Tobio frowned that wasn’t that bad...oh who was he kidding? That was awful, it just felt wrong, not like his conversations with Sakusa, Hinata, Yamaguchi, Suga or Tsukishima. Ew. Tobio hated socializing. 

Deciding to grab something to eat he headed over the buffet table looking at the too small portions of everything. Seriously, how was that stuff even supposed to fill him up? He hated these stupid fancy events and their stupid way too small food! Still piling his plate full of food, Tobio hid himself in a corner, eating in silence as he looked at women and men mingling with each other, making it look so easy. Once he finished eating he looked around the place again finally spotting Tsukishima, who was heading out of the hall to the one adjacent right next to it, that was fuller with people. He walked over to the blond, grimacing when he saw that Kuroo and Bokuto got to his boyfriend before he did. 

“Tsukki you know who was asking about you?” Kuroo sang, sounding like he threw his arm around Tsukishima’s shoulder, as the blond huffed. 

“Who?” Tsukishima murmured clearly, done with the conversation, sounding tired and fed up. 

Tobio hid behind the open doorway that separated the two halls, not knowing if he was allowed to interrupt them. Why was it so hard? It wasn’t fair, Tobio would have had no problem marching over there and just pulling his boyfriend away if he was surrounded by either Hinata or Yamaguchi. But no Tsukishima had to be cornered by Bokuto and Kuroo, the founders of the band, and some of Keiji Akaashi’s closest friends, somebody Tobio was absolutely dying to work with, much to Tsukishima’s dismay. Uggh and after their earlier awkward conversation Tobio couldn’t risk it...right? 

“Who who who indeed,” Bokuto hooted,“guess Tsukki guess.”

Tobio could just see the scowl on Tsukishima’s face. Maybe he should interrupt them, besides it was very rude to just listen to them from behind the corner, open doorway, whatever the hell this place was called. 

“Don’t call me that, and I don’t care,” he heard his boyfriend snap. Wincing at how rude his boyfriend was, Tobio leaned against the wall, trying to build up the courage to join the trio. 

“You’re no fun little pupil of mine,” Bokuto laughed loudly. 

Kuroo joined in,“absolutely no fun at all.”

“What a drag indeed.”

“So boring.”

“So--” 

“I get it are you guys going anywhere with this?” Tsukishima sighed, Tobio could visualize the frown on his face, the way Tsukishima pinched the bridge of his nose and prayed for strength, regretting wearing lenses tonight so that he had to see everything in hd. His boyfriend didn’t wear any contacts or glasses when he was performing, it helped with his anxiety, and somewhat with evading noisy fans. 

So caught up in his own mind Tobio was surprised when Bokuto whispered his own name,“it was Tobio Kageyama,” so loud that Tobio was sure it wasn’t even considered whispering.

“The cutie from the play we watched,” Kuroo chimed in. 

Tobio felt his face heat up, he hated how after all this time he still got so embarrassed when people commented on his looks. He was a model for heaven’s sake! He should be used to it all...but still.

“So you’re tapping that?”

Wait what? Why would Bokuto be interested if Tsukishima was ‘tapping’ him? What was going on...Tobio didn’t like the sound of this. He should leave right now while he could. His feet felt like they were glued to the ground, he helplessly listened to the rest of the conversation. 

“Wouldn’t you guys like to know?” Tsukishima sounded like he smirked, no doubt the that he used when he was trying to get underneath somebody’s skin. 

“Well...yes we bet on it, or don’t you remember. You melting the heart of the Ice King with your saltiness!”

“Poor baby already suffering from memory loss at such a young age.” 

Tobio’s eyes widened, mouth agape, a heavy pit sunk down in his stomach. He looked at the ceiling, chandeliers lightly swinging, their sparkles having dimmed, heart starting to race, he clasped Tsukishima’s phone in his hands praying that the blond would deny what Bokuto and Kuroo had just said. Would say no, and confirm that their relationship wasn’t a bet. That Tobio wasn’t a mere bet, something needed to be conquered to prove something to his bandmates. A King needed to be thrown off his throne to feel humility.

Tsukishima cleared his throat,“from the looks of it you better start coughing up money.”

“Ha! Tsukki is winning a bet for once in his life,” Bokuto hooted.

“My my my, here I was never thinking I’d see this day where the one and only Kei Tsukishima would win a bet.” 

“Oh shut up, you’re making it sound like it was hard.” 

Closing his eyes Tobio clutched the phone in his hands, eyes burning. His entire being felt like it was on fire...he was just a bet to Kei. Just a bet. Their relationship was a bet. A very _easy_ bet. Legs working again he opened his eyes, turning away, not staying around to listen to the rest of the conversation. Even if he wanted to listen to them speak more his ears seemed to be unable to register any sound besides the pounding of his heart. Stumbling to the front desk he gave them Tsukishima’s phone,“somebody dropped this in the washroom,” he muttered. Not listening to the clerk as he stumbled towards the coats, he needed to get out of this place. Needed to do a lot of things, get his stuff back from Kei’s place...break up with Kei? Stop contact with all Third Gym members, he bet Yamaguchi and Hinata were also in on the bet. They all probably knew about how Tsukishima played him like he was a game, all laughing at how stupid Tobio was and how he would always remain the Ice King, with a crown too heavy to bear, only surrounded by all engulfing coldness.

Tobio was too confused absolutely nothing made sense all he knew was that he needed to get out of this place, and as far away from Kei Tsukishima as he possibly could.

* * *

Kei finally let out a relieved sigh as Kuroo and Bokuto had left to bother Akaashi who was downing glasses of champagne like they were water, definitely going to regret that decision in the morning when Bokuto excitedly joined him. Everybody knew that Bokuto would whine louder than usual whenever he had a hangover. Kei smiled at this, he would just send the couple a card or something, have Kageyama pick it out since the younger man loved doing that.

Looking around the hall Kei wondered where his boyfriend had disappeared to. Reaching into his pocket for his phone to message the man he was surprised it wasn’t there. What the fuck? Where did it go? Kei was certain he had it with him when he came tonight. 

Clenching his jaw, he grabbed a flute filled with champagne downing it, stalling the moment he had to deal with the fact he lost his phone and boyfriend. How the hell did that even happen? About to look in the other hall, Kei was surprised when a very familiar face stopped him. 

“Woah you are still an asshole,” Rintarou Suna smirked at Kei, wearing bright blue eyeliner, phone out, the video that he had been watching still playing. 

Kei rolled his eyes, he and Suna had a complicated relationship, sometimes they united to beat a common enemy and other times they turned against each other competing for the number one spots with their albums and eps. 

“And you’re still a jackass.”

Suna’s expression was back to his resting bitch face,“yeah but at least I never bet on playing with somebody’s feelings.” 

“It’s a joke,” Kei deadpanned, he was an asshole but even he didn’t suck that much, plus who the hell wouldn’t want to date Tobio Kageyama?! Everything was just so easy with the man and Kei couldn’t help falling hard for the dork...by liking him, yeah just liking him. It was too soon for anything else they hadn’t even known each other for a year yet...well technically they met each other in January and since it was November it was coming up but still...that didn’t explaining how Kei felt like this about Tobio and may or may not have prepared a list of reasons why the man should move in with him properly back in L.A. 

“Didn’t sound like it,” Suna shrugged.

“Don’t you have a date with your imaginary boyfriend?”

“He’s real alright,” Suna said, narrowing his eyes at Kei.

Kei just smiled,“haven’t met or seen him before, so I doubt it.” Kei knew better than to believe the rumors floating around but apparently Suna was dating a very famous chef or something, Gordon Ramsey type of level, but that sounded like bull to Kei. 

“Asshole.”

“Jackass.” 

Suna looked at the chandeliers,“kind of harsh to call somebody an easy bet…”

Kei groaned,“you’re still on this.”

“Yes.” 

“I’m not saying it as they’re easy to get with or something they’re just an easy person to hangout with, somebody I actually enjoy spending time with who doesn’t ever drain me from energy, thus equaling an easy bet.”

“Damn you’re whipped,” Suna smirked. 

“Oh shut it.” 

“Never thought I would see the day that somebody would have you wrapped around their finger.”

Kei raised an eyebrow,“you don’t know who it is.”

“Duh, I was busy watching my video but then an unskippable ad came and my focus drifted to your very loud conversation and I found myself intrigued.”

“Well keep being intrigued because I’m not telling you who it is.”

“I’ll figure it out.”

Rolling his eyes Kei pointed to where he thought the kitchen might be, afterall everything was the same in this stupid place and nobody was using the dining hall. Why did these people like eating while standing up so much? “I bet you’re Gordan Ramsey is waiting in the kitchen.”

“Hit your head against the ceiling,” Suna said.

“Wouldn’t you just wish I did.” 

“I just did.”

Kei just smirked at Suna who returned it, both knowing they would find another way to rile each other up. He supposed he had a few minutes to spare to rile up Suna, before resuming his search for Kageyama, his phone, maybe also squeezing a makeout session with his boyfriend. Yeah that sounded like a very good plan. Besides roasting Suna would make a good bragging right as his boyfriend had been impressed with the bastard on more than one occasion when they were watching a Youtube best live singers compilation.

* * *

Tears streamed down his face, as Tobio rushed down the stairs of the hotel, using the side entrance, knowing the paparazzi was hounding the front, putting his jacket it on he shivered as the early November air bit into him, tearing into him physically the way Tsukishima had done both emotionally and mentally. Zipping his jacket, he reached back, pulling his hood up, while trembling hands pressed the contact number for his only true friend who was currently in the city. 

“Hello,” Sakusa’s voice answered the call. 

Tobio let out a sob, gripping his mouth with his hand, to suppress the upcoming slaughter of sobs as Kei’s words repeated in his mind. He was stronger than this damnit! Tobio had survived when millions of people hated him. Had survived death threats, and having his private information leaked multiple times. He would survive a broken heart, even when it felt like it was killing him. Like this would be the only thing he ever felt, drowning him in his own sorrows, memories of such an intense high leaving him empty and cold, never being able to come close to what he felt when he was with Tsukishima. Almost a year wasted on the man, almost five months of seeing him daily were all washed down the drain. 

“What’s wrong?” Sakusa said, actually evoking emotions in his voice sounding panicked.

“Do you still have room to,” he sniffled,“to go to Hawaii?”

“Yeah I do...I...did something happen Tobio?” Sakusa said, confused.

Tobio felt like puking, chest heaving up and down, he tried his brain to complete a proper sentence,“Kei...Kei...it was a bet,” he wailed. 

Thinking back on all the moments he had shared with the man. Were they all fake? Why would Tsukishima play him like that? Was it because he wasn’t good enough? Even after giving the blond everything? From his body to his soul, letting strong calloused hands trace paths in his skin where no other had. He had given him everything, every single thing the man could have wanted. And for what? Only to be told he was a bet...just a simple bet. Bearing his soul and heart to the man he was rewarded with a broken heart, and the need to flee. And Icy King who would die with only coldness surrounding him.

“I’ll kill him, you know I will, I got contacts--” Sakusa said.

Tobio violently shook his head, he didn’t want Kei to die or something, he just wanted the other man to never speak to him again. Realizing Sakusa couldn’t see him he huffed,“no...I just…just want to stay away from him. Just...can we leave?” he whispered. 

“Okay,” Sakusa muttered,“I’ll pick you up from your apartment.”

His apartment. The one bedroom studio apartment that was so different from Tsukishima’s three bedroom penthouse. The place he hadn’t gone to since...sine forever. Swallowing Tobio, shakily sighed,“I didn’t pack my travel bag.”

“It’s alright I always have four just in case.”

Startled Tobio laughed at this through the tears,“why?” 

“I like to be prepared, Tobio, you should as well.” 

“I uhm...I don’t want to go to my apartment..or K--” he couldn’t even say the bastard's name as more sobs bubbled up in his chest, escaping past his lips despite all his efforts to keep them contained. 

“Where are you right now?” Tobio sobbed while giving Sakusa the approximate address he was at,“alright I’ll be there in five okay?”

“Oh-,” Tobio’s voice cracked,“kay.”

Ending the call Tobio looked at the messages he had received, while he was on the phone with Sakusa. 

**Kei ❤️🦖 [11:44 PM]:** Babe did you leave? My phone was in the lost and found, I think we dropped it when we were making out ;))

 **Kei ❤️🦖 [11:47 PM]:** Babe?

 **Kei ❤️🦖 [11:59 PM]:** King I don’t see you anywhere here…

 **Kei ❤️🦖 [12:01 AM]:** Helloooo Tobes??

 **Kei ❤️🦖 [12:01 AM]:** Tobio I’m getting worried, where are you?

His phone began to vibrate, shaking his head. Tobio watched Kei call him over and over again, **five missed calls from Kei ❤️🦖**. Turning off the device he pocketed it, what else was he supposed to do? They were over and done. Tsukishima wasn’t the person Tobio thought him to be. Their whole relationship was something in Tobio's head. And the four whole months he had spent living with the blond were all a joke. For somebody who claimed he couldn’t act, the blond had put on a hell of a show, convincing Tobio he was worthy of the warmth, that he didn’t need to be ice cold all the time. What a joke. 

Rubbing his hands together Tobio couldn’t even look at the stars or moon without being reminded of Tsukishima. Biting his bottom lip he held back the whimpers that were about to escape. God he was just so hurt. Why had Tsukishima done it? Why? Tobio just didn’t understand how the blond could have done something so cruel. How? Tsukishima who spent thousands...hell millions on his loved ones. Tsukishima who liked dinosaurs and strawberry shortcake. How could that loveable nerd have done this? Why? 

Sakusa pulled up in his black car, rolling his window down as he motioned for Tobio to get inside. Getting into the warm vehicle, Tobio nodded at the driver who was eyeing him through the rearview mirror, Sakusa looked at him barely concealing his anger. “I’m sorry for dirtying your car,” Tobio muttered, the stupid tears just wouldn’t stop coming. 

“It’s okay,” Sakusa said, handing him a dark green handkerchief. 

The music in the car summed up exactly how he felt, the last few lines describing Tobio’s current predicament. Closing his eyes the words echoed in his head as he tried to think of anything but gold. 

_But you were somebody else...you_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> BADABINGBADABOOM Foreshadowing Baby!!! OOF OOF Y'all have to admit the way I pulled a 180 is kind of impressive, I genuinely can’t believe you people believed me...like y’all see that cute little tag that says fluff and angst, this is the angst part, I mean like I don’t blame you if you didn’t see it but heheehehehehehe I really can’t believe you trusted me...I bet y'all thought the angst was reserved for Yams and Hinata shsjshjsjsj guys the way I planted the seed so early on making it look irrelevant is kind of hot don't you think so?? Like my mind is just too good. You should really check out In My Head by Ariana Grande it's a whole bop!! Kind of sad how we're officially closer to the end than the beginning, just a few chapters left guys :)) We'll see if the boy is anybody's to begin with ;)) Sorry about this plot twist hope we can still be friends :))  
> *You're allowed to yell at me on [twitter](https://twitter.com/lvdm26) I give you permission...plus I live tweet sometimes when I'm writing so y'all can enjoy that vagueness  
> **fun fact what you're reading is considered a novel this is like an actual novel between 80-180 pages which is a shitton that you are reading for fun and I'm writing for fun, isn't that insane. Also this is my favorite chapter but not really but it is...  
> ***have a good day y'all if you still can...sorry but not really for ruining whatever time zone you are in...  
> ****Also thank you so much for the 200 kudos!!!


	11. But I Never Really Know Just Where to Find You

“Who are you even trying to reach?” Tsukishima asked with an eyebrow raised waiting for the rest of the band members to come so that they could discuss their upcoming album, looking at Shouyou who had angrily hung up his phone, after trying to call somebody for the third time and once again reaching voicemail. 

Shouyou couldn’t deal with Kageyama right now, frowning he looked at the text exchange between him and the man,“Tobio,” he muttered, furiously texting the blue eyed man how he was being unreasonable, Shouyou muttered,“he is so annoying.” 

Tsukishima sat up straighter in his chair,“how come?” he asked, putting his own phone down, attention fully focused on Shouyou. 

“He just is, and so childish,” Shouyou complained,“so first he goes to Hawaii for more than a month which is good okay fine, but at least tell me since we had plans to hangout--”

“Wait he’s back?”

Shouyou sighed, hurt with how Kageyama was ignoring him,“yeah, he came back like yesterday and is currently staying in a hotel...that fancy one.”

Tsukishima rapidly bounced his leg up and down,“which one? Did he say why he went to Hawaii? How is he?”

“I don’t know!” Shouyou complained and he actually didn’t know anything that had happened in the last month, all that he knew for sure was that the man had disappeared for a full month and two weeks. “I don’t know anything! That’s why I’m so angry! At first I was like gwahh we’re adults and he doesn’t owe me anything but uggh it’s annoying how we’re friends and yet he is acting very secretive like I did something wrong not picking up my phone or responding to my text messages! No matter what I do he doesn’t answer and the worst thing is he learned how read receipts work so he must have turned them off or something!”

Tsukishima seemed to process everything that had left Shouyou’s mouth,“when did he even leave?” 

“I don’t know, all I know is that if it weren’t for Yuuji Terushima I wouldn’t even have known he was in Hawaii.”

Tsukishima clenched his jaw, narrowing his eyes as if he was angry that Terushima and Kageyama could have spent time together, which didn’t make sense since Tsukishima absolutely hated Kageyama. “What do you mean if it weren’t for Terushima you wouldn’t have known my--To--he was in Hawaii?”

“Well you may or may not know this but Miwa Kageyama is Tobio’s sister as in the Miwa Kageyama with the makeup, skincare and hair products brand MIWA, well she has like a new makeup collection coming up which he attended where he styled people’s hair for the photo shoots including Tobio’s. So then he told Tadashi who told me that Tobio was in Hawaii for Miwa's new makeup collection and her daughter’s birthday, or well that was the plan instead Miwa decided to push the collection to next year and all Yuuji’s hard work was used to promote the Christmas collection instead of the one she was planning to release. Right and I was like why? So Tadashi asked Yuuji who asked Miwa who told him and he told Tadashi that it had to with Tobio not feeling for this campaign which meant he was going to stay longer with her.”

“Wh--” 

“And then I told Tadashi to ask Yuuji to ask why Tobio wasn’t feeling well, like is he dying or something? Is the reason he disappeared because the doctors found a scary disease and the reason he isn’t responding to my text messages is it because he is already dead? And guess what Yuuji said”

“Wh--” 

“Ehh wrong, turns out that he couldn’t find out what was wrong with Tobio exactly, but he did say Tobio looked rough like really rough, like ew whaaat is wrong type of rough. So Yuuji told Tadashi who told me that Tobio looked like a zombie, still a very pretty zombie but dead you know?” Shouyou heard Tsukishima murmuring something underneath his breath but he could care less as he continued his ranting, actually worried about his friend,“which made me worried because gwaahh this is Tobio Kageyama, my best friend who would rather die than have bad skin. So when Yuuji told Tadashi who told me that Tobio looked like he hadn’t slept in days and didn’t really eat anything like he didn’t eat anything. Which was strange since some models were saying that Tobio looked fat which means he is getting bullied.”

Tsukishima opened and closed his mouth,“how did you--okay no, when did you guys even become best friends?” 

“When Tobio told me he didn’t have a best friend so I said we are best friends.” 

“How did you reach the conclusion Tobio is getting bullied?” 

“Because people are mean and he doesn’t have any social skills,” Shouyou loved his best friend but the idiot didn’t know anything about making friends. 

Drumming his fingers on the edge of the table Tsukishima sighed,“I need advice.”

Shouyou blinked, nodding he let Tsukishima know he should continue. This must be serious since Tsukishima would never ever ask him for any sort of help. Not in this lifetime so whatever words were about to leave the blond’s mouth must have been eating him up. Now that Shouyou thought about it Tsukishima looked really rough as well. What was happening to both of his friends? What a strange coincidence that both his friends were having shitty months, did this mean something? Probably not. 

“When you uhm...when there is a person in your life who makes you feel...like they make you feel good. But they left, what do you do?”

“Left how?” 

“They just left, you know how when the sun sets for a moment it is there and then the next it is gone, and you don’t even realize it has gone until only darkness is left but not the comforting one...it is something like that.” 

Heart beginning to pound rapidly, Shouyou realized with a startle that Tsukishima was talking about him, also known as the most sunniest member in the band. What the heck?! Tsukishima was actually telling Shouyou not to leave him because he made the blond feel really good. So if he left then Tsukishima would be sad. He was probably talking about Christmas that was coming up and how Shouyou had decided to go back home to celebrate it with his family. Tsukishima wanted to come because he didn’t want Shouyou to leave him. Wahahahaha!! This was gwaha famaosbsb what did Shouyou even say? 

‘Okay be serious so he knows you like him too,’ Shouyou thought, internally partying as he realized Tsukishima was his,“well if they left you bring them back,” he whispered,“or you join them.” Clicking his tongue Tsukishima looked out of the window, heart racing Shouyou was suddenly very nervous, hand beginning to sweat as he realized he could just confess his crush on Tsukishima right now,“Kei I uhm wah you make my he--”

Phone vibrating Shouyou was about to throw the device across the room when he saw Kageyama’s name on the display, gasping he hurriedly picked it up, holding breath,“hello?” Kageyama said, voice sounding rough and scratchy, maybe he was coming down with something?

“Hi,” Shouyou whispered, relieved to hear Kageyama alive and...alive. 

“What do you want?” Kageyama said, sounding very tired and broken? What the hell happened?

“Nothing, how are you? Where’d.”

“Stop spamming me--” 

Kageyama’s voice was replaced with that of Sakusa,“don’t call or text him anymore.”

“Whaaa?” the phone was hung up and Shouyou was clutching the device. 

“Who was that?” Tsukishima asked hesitantly.

“Tobio,” Hinata whispered,“he doesn’t sound okay.”

“Why?” Tsukishima looked concerned, but that didn't make sense, it was probably the lightening in the room. 

“I don’t know he just doesn’t sound okay.”

“What else did he say?”

“That I shouldn’t call or text him anymore...well that was what Kiyoomi said. I wonder what’s up with him, it’s probably stress since his birthday is coming up.”

Tsukishima shrugged,“maybe.”

“But I was saying before the interruption is that you make my hear--”

The rest of the band walked in,“hi guys!” Lev greeted them. 

‘Great,’ Shouyou thought, rolling his eyes at how close he was to getting his happy ever after.

* * *

Something had changed in the last month, Tadashi didn’t know what but his best friend in the whole universe seemed down. Almost heartbroken, like he had gotten stood up by a date or something. To say it was weird was the understatement of the year...Tsukishima had never ever ever acted this heartbroken before. Tadashi wondered what happened, all he knew for sure was this weird mood his best friend was in all happened after he got back from visiting his brother. So that must mean something...right? Maybe everything went wrong in Seattle, and instead of reconciling the brothers had drifted apart further. 

“Tsukki?” Tadashi asked, looking at the blond who was laying down on his couch after Tadashi had to practically beg the man to come over, engulfed in his phone swiping his thumb down, repeatedly refreshing whatever page he was on. Maybe it was Instagram? Yeah that made sense, it probably was Instagram, and the blond was obviously expecting a message from an artist he was planning to collaborate for his EP. But he had been noticeably absent from social media this past month. 

“Huh?” Tsukishima mumbled clearly distracted, still swiping his thumb up and down, refreshing whatever he was looking at over and over again. It must be somebody important that had Tsukishima practically glued to his phone.

“Are you okay?”

“Huh uh,” Tsukishima nodded. 

Narrowing his eyes, Tadashi was getting genuinely concerned about his friend. What had gotten into him? Wondering what the best course of action could be he decided on changing the topic, so that Tsukishima could get whatever was bothering him out of his mind,“how’s your EP coming along?” 

Tsukishima shrugged eyes still plastered on his stupid phone, what was even so special on that device?! 

“Are you still planning to release it near Valentine’s Day next year?” From what Tsukishima had told him before the records had a silent type of love theme surrounding them. The blond had used big words to describe it to Tadashi but it essentially all boiled down to comfort found in people rather than in materials, the easiness of love or something like that if Tadashi recalled it correctly. Tsukishima looked really passionate about it so Tadashi was surprised by this...uninspired...unmotivated air surrounding the blond.

“Probably not.”

“Why not?” 

“It's not the gift it should have been." Tadashi has absolutely no idea what that meant but it probably had to do with Saeko and Akiteru letting his best friend down,"’m also thinking of changing the title--”

“What?! I liked the Gravitational Pull Between You and Me, it’s so poetic. Didn't you even say how it related to the moon and ocean, and how gravitational pull connected those two?”

“Yeah well not anymore,” Tsukishima muttered something else underneath his breath that Tadashi didn’t quite catch but sounded something like ‘left me’, which really didn’t make any sense. Because who left Tsukishima? Nobody did...maybe it was Akiteru! He had done it before maybe he did it again and that's why his best friend was so sad, his brother disappeared again!

“So what are you planning to change it to?” 

“Holding on to Your Fading Memory.”

Tadashi didn’t know what to say to that where ‘Gravitational Pull Between You and Me’ could have had so many different meanings from a literal one to a symbolic one, this new title was just downright depressing. Tadashi wondered what had transpired in Seattle for Tsukishima to come back this depressed.

“Uhm Tsukki are you sure about that?”

“Yes.” 

“Alright it is a very depressingly beautiful title.” 

“I know, it's either that one or the Ghost of You.” 

“Damn Tsukki are you sure you don’t want to talk about what’s up with you lately?” 

Tsukishima sighed, finally putting his phone down, sitting up straight he looked directly into Tadashi’s eyes,“let’s say you know somebody that just...you have somebody in your life and they’re...they’re...they’re...you know. Okay you have somebody in your life and they are just it you know like it--”

Was Tsukishima talking about him? Was this like an indirect confession of some sorts, like the ones Hinata and him had watched in all those romcoms. Was this it” “--they’re forever?” 

Tsukishima nodded,“yes they’re a forever person…”

“Even though you haven’t known them since the beginning, you feel like you have, you can’t imagine your life without them. They have somehow managed to become a foundation to everything you have ever know--”

This had to be about him. It had to be, Tadashi was Tsukishima’s oldest and closest friend. This absolutely had to be about him. There was no way in hell that the blond wasn’t basically confessing to him right now. 

“--left their touch all over you,” Tadashi whispered, heart racing as Tsukishima nodded. Holy shit! Holy shit! This was happening! It was happening right now! Oh god. Oh god. Why hadn’t he chewed some gum before this. What did he have for breakfast? 

“Yes and now you need them forever...what do you call that?”

Tadashi swallowed,"love _Kei_ , you call it love." Oh god it was happening...how? What was Tadashi supposed to do? Should he just grab the blond’s face and kiss him? Nah it didn’t feel like that type of moment. Should he lean in close and ask for it? Maybe he should confess? Yeah, that one sounded good. 

Taking a big breath Tadashi opened his mouth,“Kei I lo--”

The door flung open, Hinata entered, taking off his shoes before making his way into the living room, Tadashi frowned at the redhead who smiled brightly at them,“what are you guys doing?” 

Tsukishima just stared at his phone in shock, as if he had found the answers to the universe. The blond’s phone began to vibrate, all three stared at the number calling Tsukishima that started with 808. Getting up to take the call Tsukishima gestured to the door, telling them that he was going to go outside to take the call.

“I wonder what area code 808 is from,” Hinata said walking to the kitchen.

“Same.” Tadashi knew he could just search it up but feeling a bit lazy and hungry he joined Hinata in the kitchen. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Dayum this chapter took forever because my laptop aka my arch nemesis kept on crashing like why are you like this?! I would have finished this so much faster but whatever. So yikes this chapter is just yikes, but I really wanted to show the different friendships so Hinata and Kags, Tsukki and Hinata, Yams and Tsukki, like they're all friendships but they're all so different yet all so alike which is so cool...but okay whatever can y'all guess who called Tsukki near the end? Fun fact did y'all know the reason I wrote this fic was to name chapters like that is another reason why this fic came alive besides me wanting people lusting after Tsukki, I wanted to name chapters which resulted in this monstrosity, the want to name chapters also essentially made the plot as I had the names ready before what would happen in each chapter which helped planning immensely since I know what was already going to happen, and helped condense the two ideas on which this fic is built easier to digest and not just dumps of information.  
> *listen to where to find you by nick jonas it's a bop  
> **and the question remains is the boy anybody's? *evil laughter and smirk* guys trust me whatever I do won't be that bad I bet...just trust me lmao...you really shouldn't but you have no other choice shfjkmbjksjnm


	12. To Live Without You

_ Present Day _

There weren’t a lot of things that could shock Kei, he was a pessimist at heart and an overthinker. Before you even could think of hurting him he would have already figured out how and when you would do it. And yet for some reason he thought Tobio was different, he had seriously thought the blue eyed man was different, wouldn’t just leave in the middle of the night, disappear to God’s know where...well he left for Hawaii but still. Why?

Kei just couldn’t phantom why Tobio left, why the man had just left him? He thought about everything that happened, everything that could have maybe triggered Tobio to leave, and every time he came up with nothing. Absolutely nothing that explained why the one track man had just left, leaving only behind his ghost. Haunting Kei in his own apartment. 

There were enough items missing to definitely say Tobio had left, but there were also items that Kei just knew the man had left on purpose. Had left to haunt Kei remind him of everything that was and could never be again. 

Clicking his tongue in irritation Kei put his phone down, once again scrolling through his photo gallery and looking at the pictures he took of the man. Pausing on his favorite one, of Tobio baking him a strawberry shortcake for his birthday, flour on his cheeks, smiling widely as he presented the cake, decorated with the fluffiest whipping cream Kei ever had. 

Tobio had ruined Kei’s favorite dessert, and Kei just wanted...he wanted him back. Wanted to fall on his knees and just beg his king to forgive him, even though he didn’t know what had happened, what he had done to offend his king, he just wanted Tobio back in his arms. Wanted to watch shitty reality tv with the man, and just enjoy the easiness surrounding them, fall deeper into the blues of Tobio’s eyes. 

It was absolutely pathetic and Kei hated himself for it. Maybe that’s why Tobio left, the younger man had sensed how attached Kei was and decided he didn't want to deal with that. Kei just needed to respect Tobio's decisions and let it be.

Yeah. That's what he needed to do although he really didn't want to. He didn't want to let go of Tobio Kageyama. Didn't want to let go of his cute pout that just begged his pretty pink lips to be kissed, his ocean blues eyes that always changed shades, and his dimples that gave him away even when he didn't want to laugh at Kei's corny jokes. Kei didn't want to give any of that up, but he had to because Tobio had realized Kei wasn't enough. He wasn't enough-

\- or well he wasn’t enough until he realized he was just an idiot, and all it took was one phone call, one simple phone call that changed the current events. Putting everything that had happened in the last month into perspective. And with that came the crushing realization he only had one day...one day to change the current heartbreak he was experiencing.

* * *

_ One Week After the Gala in Hawaii _

Miwa walked into the living room with a glass of milk. She sighed looking at her brother who hadn't stopped crying since he arrived at her place, two weeks before he was supposed to,"Bubba you need to tell me what's wrong," she whispered, keeping her voice low and soothing, sitting down next to him, stroking his hair for comfort. Tobio had been laying on the couch watching some dinosaur documentary while sobbing, and Miwa wondered how her brother had so many tears in him. How her favorite emotionally constipated person in the whole wide world was this hurt that he was crying waterfalls. Whoever hurt him would pay...with their life if they had to for making her brother cry like this. 

Tobio didn’t answer her continuing to cry, tears streaming down his face as he clutched the pillow tighter to his stomach. Looking like he was both lost in memories and looking at a very bleak future. 

Tutting her lips together she still ran her fingers through his thick hair, looking at the documentary she thought about the best next possible step. Sighing, she settled to confront her brother as head on as she could without making him. Obliviousness kind of ran in their family, and if she didn’t directly ask what was wrong she would never get an answer. So in order to figure out what was wrong she had to thread carefully, dance intricately the way she used to in her younger days. When her grandfather looked at her like she had hung the sun in the sky every time she opened her mouth to sing and dance, owning the theatre stage like it was always meant to be hers. Something that apparently seemed hereditary with the way her younger brat of a brother had picked it up. 

Shaking her head she focused on the present, this was no time to get lost in memories,"he didn't look like his photos?" She asked, remembering when she had been catfished once like that. 

"No he looked like his photos, he just wasn't who I thought he was," Tobio choked out clearly in pain. Bloodshot red eyes focusing on the dinosaurs on the screen, as if they held the answers to the universe. 

Miwa hummed softly, raking her memory as she tried to remember who Tobio had been telling her about. Someone in a band...a blond in a band...a tall blond in a band...Kei Tsukishima! The name came popping into her mind with fireworks and all. Swallowing asked the question that had her wading through dangerous territory. The question that could cause Tobio to completely shut down and drown himself in work if she made one mistake. If she messed up this dance her brother would hurt himself one way or another. After their grandfather Kazuyo had passed away Tobio had locked himself up, swallowing anything and everything the public threw at him from their hatred to their love, while Miwa had run. Ran to the place Kazuyo spent his final days, looking at the blue waters of Hawaii and remembering his deceased wife.

"Is it the Kei guy?" 

Everything around them seemed to freeze, even time held her breath as Miwa waited Tobio’s reaction, trying her hardest not to give into the temptations of going down memory lane. Losing herself in her own head while her brother was lost in his own. Another thing the Kageyama’s appeared to have in common was their ability to get lost, forget everything around them as they were stuck in their own personal hells. And Miwa didn’t want that cycle to consume her the way it did her parents, the way it began to hold her brother in its clutches. All she wanted to do was desperately hurt whoever caused her baby brother to feel like this. To get lost in his own head. 

Time moved again as Tobio nodded,“he...I...he said...I...I was a bet,” Tobio stuttered, eyes glazing over back to the tv, trying to make sense of what had happened himself. Once again gone moving between memories.

Miwa soothingly shushed him, looking at his vibrating phone on the table…

* * *

_ Present Day _

Tobio looked around the room, at all the people dressed formally while appearing to be dressed casually. On another day he might have pointed out their errors, today he stared passively at them. After all for today he was one of them, wearing a simple black turtleneck with blue jeans. It was his twenty-second birthday, his golden year if you say so. And all he wanted to do was run away from his hard work, and wanted to hide from all the people filled with awe looking at the piece of the moon reflection over the ocean. The piece that represented him and Kei, the warmth the blond had both given and taken from Tobio. 

What Kei had done to him was cruel, had been completely unnecessary, besides being hurt Tobio also just felt so incredibly stupid, why had he let Kei in? He had been used like this multiple times, people made bets about him all the time, and he was used to it, except he wasn’t. Tobio didn’t understand why people didn’t like him. Didn’t understand why they didn’t see him as a person. 

Looking away from the painting he walked to the crown one. The crown that he never wanted but was forever nailed to him. Such heaviness that forever chained him to the cold and loneliness that came with the title ‘Ice King’. Narrowing his eyes he looked at painting as if it was his first time seeing it, losing himself in the red paint.

Sakusa was wandering the gallery, hands behind his back, half his face hidden underneath his mask. Looking at the art pieces Tobio had displayed seeing his soul in everything he looked at. Tobio was grateful for the man, if it weren’t for Sakusa, Tobio didn’t know what he would have done when he found out about the bet. Where would he have gone? Who would he have called? What would have gone differently? What would have stayed the same? How would the events have taken place if it weren’t like the painting, red blood dripping from a heavy golden crown. 

Tobio sighed, bottom lip beginning to tremble again as he thought about Kei and everything they had lost - well he had lost since Kei didn’t care.

* * *

_ One Week After the Gala in Seattle  _

Frowning Kei looked at his phone, refreshing his messages for the thirteenth time, why the hell wasn’t Tobio answering him? First he had thought the brunet needed some space which he was willing to give, but now they had gone almost three days with no contact whatsoever and Kei was growing concerned.

“Alright Goldilocks tell your favorite sister-in-law what’s up?” Saeko said, sitting down next to Kei.

Scrunching up his nose at her nickname he just sighed, shrugging. 

Saeko stroked her protruding belly, just a month left until the rascal would make their way into the world, Kei was genuinely excited for his brother and Saeko...he personally also couldn’t wait to meet his future niece or nephew. Even though Saeko was his sister-in-law she had always felt more like his sister, and in the privateness of his own mind he referred to her as such. Saeko’s eyes began to glint,“wanna bet that I can figure out what’s wrong with you in less than a minute?”

Kei raised an eyebrow,“I’m pretty sure it will take you at least a minute.” 

Smirking Saeko, looked like a predator about to jump their prey,“so you’re willing to bet on it?” 

Warnings flashed in Kei’s mind to stop, not to give Saeko anything to go off on for his sister was cunning. Remembering the last time they played poker as a family during Christmas and how Saeko had screwed everybody over, without even breaking a sweat. 

As if sensing his hesitation Saeko leaned forwards, chin resting on the back of her hand,“ah c’mon Kei I’m eight months pregnant I can’t ask for anything too wild.”

“What are we betting on?”

“Just you know...you doing a free photoshoot for the garage and getting the other band members to join you or even better...”

Kei thought about it, he hated doing photoshoots, but he also understood where Saeko was coming from since a photoshoot would help with business. “--even better?”

“Don’t worry about it,” she waved him off laughing,“just say yes and I’ll work my superpowers on you for free,” she winked. 

“And what if you don’t? What will I get?”

Saeko shrugged,“that’s up to you Goldilocks.” 

Kei clicked his tongue at the nickname,“tch,” raking his brain for something he could ask of his sister. What could he possibly ask for? “The first thing you dress your kid in is a dinosaur onesie, or well something dinosaur related and send pictures to me.” 

Snorting at this Saeko nodded,“alrighty sounds like a plan,” holding her hand out for him to shake he took it, her grip as firm as ever,“it’s a bet.”

“It’s a bet.”

Unlocking his phone, Kei quickly checked if Tobio messaged him only to feel his heart plummet right into his stomach as there were no new messages from the blue eyed man. Shaking his head he opened the clock app, clicking on the timer for one minute. 

“Ready. Set. Go,” he muttered, pressing the start button as the seconds began to count down. 

“From the sighing I’m guessing you’re waiting for a message from somebody, and since you’re in a relationship with Tobio Kageyama, I bet it is him. But he hasn’t messaged you in awhile and now you’re lost.”

Kei stopped the timer, it had only taken Saeko fifteen seconds to figure out what was wrong with him. “Yeah...uhm,” he coughed suddenly embarrassed with how obvious he was,“that sounds about right.” 

Saeko smiled, sighing before taking Kei’s phone and putting it on the coffee table, taking his hands in her own. Saeko’s hands were filled with scars and callouses from work mishaps, showing how much of a hard worker she was,“any idea why he went cold turkey?”

“No.” 

“Dumb question to ask.”

“You think?” 

“Alright cool your jets captain,” she said,“did he go cold turkey during or after the gala?” 

“After.” 

“Which means something must have happened between you two for him to be acting like that.” 

Kei shook his head, recalling everything that happened during the gala, nothing seemed amiss. Tobio looked well and happy, they hadn’t had an argument, nothing whatsoever. “Nothing happened.” 

“Something must have Kei,” Saeko whispered gently, and Kei was reminded why he admired her so much. Because as much of a badass Saeko was, at the end of the day she was filled with a sharp cutting softness it was terribly contradicting but something very Saeko, something her brother Ryu had also inherited, which probably meant it ran through their family.

“Nothing actually happened.” 

“Maybe not to you but to him something did.”

Furrowing his brows, Kei thought of everything that could have happened, maybe Tobio had run into a ghost of the past? Or another pushy film director who was telling him how he was wasting his talents in theatre. 

“Maybe.” 

Saeko groaned loudly,“this baby wants bananas with ranch.”

Kei scrunched up his nose,“ew.”

“Don’t judge besides you’ve got some phone calls to make for an upcoming photoshoot.”

* * *

_ Present Day _

The dark clouds from Seattle had followed Kei to New York as he paced through the penthouse, covering the rooms usually filled with light in darkness making them look like they came to eat him up. Maybe Tobio had been on to something when he said that Kei didn’t need this many rooms. Every room longed for Tobio the same way Kei did. He missed him.

It was the twenty-second of December the day Tobio would officially turn twenty-two, Kei had planned to give him the keys to his house in LA with the offer for the other man to move in with him if he wanted to...besides that he also planned to give Tobio luxury oil paints, in expensive pigments such as ultramarine, meaning beyond the sea, the closest vibrant shade of blue to Tobio’s eyes. He looked at the tubs of paint wrapped in cheesy reindeer Christmas wrapping paper, that Tobio would no doubt enjoy. 

Sighing he entered the bedroom he had been avoiding, the bed that was too big for one person all the sudden. The nights not spent fighting over the blanket and losing space to Tobio, causing him to lose sleep. Walking to the closet, he opened the door, looking at the space being filled with clothes that were his and weren’t. Feeling his heart clench, the pit in his stomach became heavier as he heard Tobio’s voice ringing in his ear about the importance of maintaining his appearance. Tobio had explained to Kei once how putting effort into his appearance was done more for himself than the public and that the reason he was so methodically about it was because it helped him cope. Dressing up made him forget stressful things, it wasn’t like his art that required him to reach deep within himself to figure out what was up. Dressing up was something that didn’t require him to feel anything besides judge what colors and shapes went well with each other. 

Kei grabbed the big winter coat that barely fit in the small space, Tobio had gifted it to him, knowing how easily Kei got cold, making sure that he was prepared for winter in New York.

Letting himself touch the dark green fabric, and soft wool within it, he remembered the way Tobio’s eyes had shined with excitement. The jacket was big and swallowed Kei up, but Tobio loved it because he could basically cuddle with Kei in the jacket and people wouldn’t know...they totally would but the way Tobio had said it made Kei believe it was just the two of them in a bigass jacket against the world. Just the two of them like it was supposed to be. 

Instead Kei was all alone in a too big apartment with a too big jacket. Putting the jacket back he grabbed his black leather one, if he was going to do this, he was going to do this right. Not using Tobio’s memories against him. The art gallery pamphlet encouragingly smiling up at him.

* * *

_ Two Weeks After the Gala in Hawaii _

Miwa looked at her daughter, crouching down she handed Maleah a plate with sandwiches on it,“Ku’uipo can you hand this to your uncle?” she asked, knowing that Tobio was more likely to eat something if Maleah gave it, since the three almost four year would no doubt eat with him.

“What’s wrong with uncle Tobi-oh?” she asked, big black eyes staring up at her. 

Miwa stroked her daughter’s cheek,“you’ll get it when you're older,” ruffling her curly hair, she smiled,“but I hope you won’t.”

Maleah blinked, the signature Kageyama frown that ran through their family making its way on her face,“blegh. I am big mommy.”

“Very big baby, and because you’re such a big girl can you bring the sandwich to your uncle?” 

“Okay mommy,” turning around Maleah walked out of the kitchen before turning around,“I wanna hug uncle Tobi-oh.” 

“Yes, after you hand him the sandwich. Okay?”

“Okay mommy.”

“That’s my big girl.” 

Maleah stomped over to Tobio, lifting his head up from the pillow he looked at his niece. Smiling a bit he opened his arms for her. She handed him the sandwich that Tobio put on the table besides his untouched glass of milk. His phone vibrated once again he let the device buzz, only reaching out to put his phone on silent. Opening his arms again Maleah jumped in his arms, Miwa looked from the doorway, biting her bottom lip when she saw Tobio’s eyes beginning to shine again. Tightening his grip on Maleah as she nuzzled into his neck, her brother looked like he was fighting against the tears. 

Hot-blooded anger crawled up from the pits of Miwa’s stomach. Heartbroken didn’t even seem to capture how incredibly broken and in pain Tobio seemed to be. Eyes zeroing in on Tobio’s phone Miwa knew she had to get the device and stand up for her brother in the way he wouldn’t. At least he had begun to see the therapist, Miwa had recommended and began to take some antidepressants, but that hauntingly empty look in her brother’s eyes was just too much for her. She would fight back for him and tell this Kei person to start praying for she was about to drag him to hell and back. 

* * *

_ Present Day _

Tobio wondered if time was moving backwards, the seconds, minutes, and hours were slowly ticking down instead of moving forwards. Because everyday he seemed a bit more lost in his head. The further he physically was from Kei the more time he spent in the memories they shared. An intricate dance between the past and present, as he remembered the softness of Kei’s hair running his finger through it to wake Kei up. He remembered the colors on the older man’s body, the beautiful tattoos that Tobio used to trace whenever he could. It probably also didn’t help how Tobio saw Kei’s Calvin Klein photoshoot billboard everywhere. When he went to the hotel he was staying in, when he was taking public transit. Kei was following him everywhere, leaving Tobio breathless every single time. The man looked like a lion about to attack in the photos, eyes narrowed and jaw clenched, when Kei had first shown Tobio the photo he had called it the calm before the storm. Maybe there was a warning in there somewhere.

Maybe the reason Tobio was so lost in himself was because he was trying to figure out where he went wrong. Where he had let his guard down for Kei to slip in and destroy himself from the inside out. 

Shaking his head Tobio tried to come back to the present, staring apathetically at all of his hard work. He barely heard the praises being sung about him by the many critics present, who looked at his paintings for however long they needed. Finding things Tobio didn’t even know he incorporated, coming up with complex stories to what he might have been aiming for. 

All he knew was that strong memories were tied to each painting in the room, and that his collection was supposed to start with melancholy, ending hopefully. Tobio was supposed to be here with Kei, who would praise him endlessly as if he had never seen his works before. Hadn’t come into the room he had turned into somewhat of a studio, leaning against the door frame and just watching Tobio. 

Tobio used to want to see himself the way Kei did. Wanted to see whatever made the man look at him like  _ that _ . He wanted a lot of things with Kei, maybe it’s Tobio’s fault the way everything took place. The dependence he put on the other man, he should have never opened his mouth and stayed silent, hadn’t he learned from Kindaichi and Kunimi? Hadn’t he learned how quickly they dropped him? Hadn’t he learned from them? 

There was just so much Tobio wanted to say and do. It sucked that he knew he wouldn’t come unscathed from a conversation with Kei. He was certain that as bad as his heartbreak was nothing would be worse than Kei confirming he was a bet. An easy bet. That every single memory they shared was all fake, all a form of entertainment to the blond.

His feet moved and he once again found himself in front of the painting with the moon and the ocean. Tilting his head to the side he just looked at it. Looked at the hopefulness of the painting, the melody it carried with him. A dance Tobio didn’t think he could ever dance again. 

Why had he included it here today? That was a question the critics didn’t ask, but should. Because why did Tobio include it? Was this to signal the end? Was this painting making it official? Had his time with Kei become just another bad memory he would move on from? The time spent with the blond a simple warning for future reference. Perhaps. 

* * *

_ Two Weeks After the Gala in Seattle _

Kei sighed, watching the rain fall. Two weeks passed and if it weren’t for the paparazzi Kei wouldn’t have even known his boyfriend was in Hawaii. He wondered what happened for Tobio to leave two weeks before he was supposed to go. 

“Something on your mind?” Akiteru asked, carrying two steaming mugs of hot chocolate with marshmallows in them. 

Sighing again Kei shook his head, looking at the grey clouds that were covering all of Seattle. 

“You sure?” Akiteru asked, gently, sitting down next to Kei on the couch, reminding Kei of the conversation he had with Saeko a week ago. 

“I’m just confused I guess,” he mumbled, part of him not wanting to stress Akiteru out for the fear that his brother might pick up a bottle again, even though he had been sober for five years already. Akiteru didn’t deserve the way Kei still thought of him as fragile while he had managed to pull himself together, built the home Kei currently sat in. 

“At least you know what you are,” Akiteru smiled, handing the mug of hot chocolate,“relationship troubles?” 

“I think so?” Kei partially wondered what was happening in his relationship with the way he had been ignored for the last two weeks, stalking Tobio through Google like an obsessive fan. 

“Well that’s not really reassuring,” Akiteru said, scooping up some marshmallows with his tongue.

Kei did the same, letting himself indulge in this childish moment as he nodded. 

Chewing on the tiny white marshmallow, Akiteru nodded out of the window,“look how perfectly the weather caught your sulking mood.”

“‘M not sulking,” Kei said, chewing on his own marshmallows. 

“Yeah you are. You’re also glued to your phone as if it holds the answers to the universe.”

“It has Google on it.” 

“Quit being such a smartass.”

“Quit being a dumbass.”

“Hey!” 

“Hi.” 

Akiteru rolled his eyes taking a sip of the hot liquid,“so what’s up with you and Tobio.” 

Kei looked into his mug, whispering,“I don’t know.” 

Akiteru nodded,“it’s okay that you don’t know, but do you think something is wrong?” 

“Yeah...I...yeah something is off.”

“Alright that is something to begin with.” 

Suddenly Kei felt like he was back to being in elementary when his brother was absolutely the coolest person around. Holding the answers to questions Kei didn’t even think to ask. Twenty-two year old Kei felt sad for all the years he had lost with his brother...they could have been sitting like this earlier, just brothers being brothers. 

“He uhm...Tobio isn’t responding to any of my text messages or picking up any of my calls and I...I know he’s alive and he had his phone so I don’t understand why he isn’t picking up.”

“Do you remember Carleigh?”

“Yeah she was...yeah.”

Carleigh was one of the people who had dragged Akiteru to the dark side, Kei remembered the days spent cussing her out after Akiteru left, hoping that she and her friends would all burn in hell together. And then he was angry at his brother for being weak, for giving into peer pressure.

“Yeah she was...something alright. But you know what she did after she grew tired of people?”

“No.” 

“She would ghost them, stop responding to them, ignoring them like the plague.” 

Kei frowned looking into his hot chocolate, his heart clenching as he processed his brother’s words. Had Tobio grown tired of him? Was Tobio ghosting him? Was this the end of their relationship?

“He’s tired of me?” Kei whispered, furiously blinking, both numb and overcome with emotions. Tobio was tired of him. Tobio had left.

“That’s not what I’m saying,” Akiteru sighed,“he is ghosting you because something happened. What happened I don't know?”

“But we,” Kei replayed every moment of the gala. Tobio and him had been good, better than good, they were happy and together. What happened for Tobio to ghost him? Did something happen during the gala? Did Kei do something?

“I don’t know,” he sighed.

“And that’s okay,” Akiteru whispered, softly punching his shoulder, as the rain fell quicker from the sky, sucking away all the light the sun could have offered, taking away the sight of the clear blue sky.

* * *

_ Present Day  _

Kei swallowed as he opened the door to the art gallery, not surprised by the overdressed people within it, whispering among themselves about this new underground artist. Kei looked at Tobio’s paintings, pushing his glasses up his face as he looked at the painting of a little child’s hand holding on to that of a fading adult one. This was a piece of Tobio, the room was filled with pieces of Tobio that he had scattered around for the public to see. The same way Kei left pieces of himself behind in everything he wrote.

Sure Kei had seen most of the pieces displayed, but still seeing them properly framed and displayed in lights that flattered them was breathtaking. Tobio had done this. Tobio had painted each and every single one of these paintings. 

Had spent hours using different brushes and paints to create this art. Swallowing Kei looked at the two hands. Remembering Tobio telling him how he had painted that piece for his grandfather. How even now he felt comforted by the memories of the old man, his inner child always longing for a proper goodbye. 

From the corner of his eyes, Kei something bright red, walking over to the painting he saw a beautiful golden crown covered with flowers, dripping with what appeared to be ruby like stones from a distance, but the closer he got to the more sinister the painting became. The ruby red stones looking like blood, the pretty flowers revealing thorns lined on the inside of the painting. A simple ‘help’ written in gold, too light to read from afar, Kei wanted to touch the painting, run his finger over the canvas.

He clenched his jaw as he heard pompous bastards whispering about how depressing the painting was, spewing something pretentious bullshit about how this was the artist’s cry for help. Only looking at Tobio’s work through one perspective, as if it wasn’t more complicated than that. Kei hated the way they sounded proud of their said discovery that made them look smarter than they were. 

The painting wasn’t just Tobio’s cry for help, it was him showing he would survive the heavy crown donned on him. Would survive the thorns covered by heavy sparkling jewels, and would come out stronger. Tobio wasn’t only crying for help like the critics made it seem, he was also moving forward, with the knowledge that he would always wear the mantle of King, but he wouldn’t let it drag him down. Showed the beauty and the pain the title carried, and Kei was...Kei was impressed. Because this was Tobio. Tobio who had scars and was flawed. Tobio who was a human much to the media’s surprise. Tobio who Kei was utterly in fucking awe of.

* * *

_ Three Weeks After the Gala in Hawaii _

The anti-depressant Tobio was on had caused him to gain a bit of weight even though her baby brother barely ate anything. The weight gain had made Tobio extra insecure, and when some of the models commented on it during the photoshoot for Miwa’s upcoming collection she put her foot down. Firing whoever bad mouthed Tobio and forcing her brother to only help with Maleah’s birthday planning. 

“Miwa?” Tobio asked, another dinosaur documentary on the tv that Miwa found herself surprisingly invested in. 

“Yeah?” 

“Do you think…”

A beat of silence passed between them before Miwa broke it,“do I think what?”

“Nothing,” Tobio said, shaking his head, blues eyes always swimming red. It had been awhile since Miwa had seen Tobio without the evidence that he had cried. 

“Come on Bubba what’s up?” 

“Nothing.” 

“Bubs,” Miwa said, raising her eyebrow.

Tobio sighed,“I miss Kei,” he whispered,“I uhm...I really miss him.”

Nodding Miwa scooted closer to her brother, taking him in her arms,“that’s alright.”

“I just...I,” Tobio swallowed, clearly fighting against the onslaught of tears about to come,“he really felt like the…like the one...and I just...what if Kei was. What if nothing will ever match up to what we have--”

“Had Bubs,” she gently corrected.

Tobio opened and closed his mouth, leaning into Miwa’s embrace. Miwa wondered when they both had gotten so comfortable with hugging and talking. In their younger years the closest they came to any physical affection were high fives, all of their actions showed their love for each other...but here they were. It probably had to do with Maleah’s birth when Tobio had stayed with them for a full year. 

“I really miss him.”

Miwa closed her eyes, resting her cheek against his inky black hair, that always had been thicker than her own. She didn’t have the words to comfort him. Hadn’t ever experienced a heartbreak the way Tobio currently was. And once again she stared at Tobio’s phone that lay innocently on the coffee table. 

* * *

_ Present Day _

Tobio was still silently staring at the painting of whatever he had experienced with Kei, no matter how one-sided it was. He stared at the gold within the painting and how clear the path between the ocean and moon was. Something that just looked meant to be. 

-meant to be broken, he bitterly thought. Not being able to avert his eyes from the painting. In the end it wasn’t even that impressive, but like everything else in this room it held a piece of him. Tobio feared he had given Kei the best of him, had given somebody his all for what? To be told he was nothing more than a bet.

He wanted to leave, wanted to grab Sakusa and just leave the gallery, he had spent enough time here. Didn’t need to go down memory lane with every painting he looked at, all the paths leading him back to this painting and his memories with Kei. 

Gold. Everything golden haunted Tobio, drowned him in it until his own colors were dulled. But that wasn’t true now was it? Because no matter how much he wanted to think of Kei as the villain the man had never harmed him. The man had never raised his hand or voice to Tobio, had been supportive of everything that popped into Tobio’s head.

Tobio wanted Kei to be a villain. Wanted to remember moments when Kei had hurt him so this would be another moment of good riddance, but it wasn’t and that’s why it hurt. That’s why this painting was in the corner, where nobody could really see it. Because Tobio didn’t want to let go of Kei. 

He wanted to hold on to everything golden, wanted his finger to run through it. Wanted to drown in gold. Everything gold. Just Kei. Kei. Kei. He wanted Kei but Kei...Kei didn’t...this was a bet. That’s where Kei was the villain. He had toyed with Tobio’s feelings, leading him to believe that maybe just maybe there was a forever between them. That’s where Kei was the villain, where Kei had absolutely ruined Tobio from the inside out. 

And that's why his feet were glued to the ground as he once again stared at the painting, memories taking him back to the luxurious hotel, where the gala was hosted. He was back to when he felt like the world had nothing on him and Kei, in the bathroom just enjoying himself with the man. Just them together. When a forever between them didn't seem like a question.

* * *

_ Three Weeks After the Gala in New York _

Tobio was actually painfully shy. Kei didn’t know how to explain it but the other man was shy. Would get this pretty pink rosy blush on his face whenever Kei complimented him. For somebody so beautiful it was cute the way Tobio still got flustered by compliments. And now Kei would never see that side of the man again. Because Tobio had left like a ghost during the night. 

Sighing Kei rubbed his temples, finally back from his trip to Seattle where he spent three weeks with his family...to say he had enjoyed himself was an understatement even with the lingering realization that Tobio was gone. Kei had fooled himself to believe that when he landed in New York and headed to his apartment he would be greeted with Tobio’s things. 

Well how fucking wrong he was since everything that Tobio held dear was gone. His paintings and equipment were all gone. The room was cleaner than it was before, the smell of bleach heavy in the air. Because Tobio was gone, tears filling his eyes, Kei walked out of the room into the bedroom sitting on the bed, he looked over at the nightstand where Tobio kept his water bottle, and jewelry box...only his blue water bottle remained.

Tears began to fall down his cheeks, he angrily clenched his jaw. What the fuck had he done for Tobio to leave like this? What had Kei done? Was Tobio always planning to leave? Did the other man have no feelings for him whatsoever?

Blinking rapidly he unlocked his buzzing phone, looking at the message Hinata and Yamaguchi had sent. He really wasn’t in the mood to deal with his friends now. Closing his eyes he fell backwards onto the bed. Why didn’t the King have the decency to just break up with him? Why hadn’t he talked to him? 

Overwhelmed didn’t even begin to capture what Kei felt...he was confused, and tired. Old walls slowly started to line up their bricks, stacking them on top of each other, protecting his heart. He was foolish for breaking that wall to begin with. So fucking foolish. Because why would the mighty King Tobio Kageyama, youngest EGOT winner ever want anything to do with Kei? Plain simple Kei. He had known better, he knew people would let him down, that's why he he had put his walls up so high, that's why. And yet Tobio managed to break them all, leaving him with a familiar unfamiliar heartache as he longed for the man. 

* * *

_ Present Day _

Tobio looked beautiful, absolutely fucking stunning, or maybe Kei was just being biased after finally seeing the man in his full glory again. Even though he only saw his back it was enough to leave him breathless. Hands shaking he tucked them into his pockets as he made his way over to the corner the man was standing in. Looking at his black and white painting of the setting moon’s reflection on the water, music notes forming a clear path between the two.

Kei tried to contain his gasp, as he read the notes, memories flooding through his brain, remembering the night he had strummed Lianne La Havas’ version of I Say A Little Prayer, on his guitar. How he had sung the song to which Tobio and him had shared their first slow dance to. This painting was him and Tobio, just the two of them, like how it was supposed to be. 

Swallowing Kei walked up behind Tobio who was looking at the painting as if it contained the answers to the universe. He had always known he was a selfish man, and yet he indulged in the silence he was sharing with the other man who was oblivious to his presence. Like this Kei could almost pretend they were still together. That they had arrived at the gallery at the same time, were looking at the memories reflecting on all the good memories between them and the many more to come. 

Like this Kei could pretend everything was alright. That he hadn’t been pathetically sulking for the other man. Like this Kei could pretend that they still shared a whole future together. Like this he could pretend. But like all pretending that came soon to an end and he spoke up.

“Never knew you saw me that way King.” 

* * *

_ Six Weeks After the Gala in Hawaii  _

Tobio had left, and Miwa was about to do something bad. She knew she shouldn’t, but she had to. Had to fight for Tobio. Interrogate this Kei person and tell him how shitty he was for playing Tobio the way he did. 

She felt dirty for betraying Tobio’s trust like this, besides if he really didn’t want her to call he would have changed his password. Miwa did feel guilty for using her daughter to set her plan in action by having her bring Tobio’s phone to her so she could send Kei’s number, save it and then delete the conversation, but then again what did a four year old really know? 

Besides this was for a good cause, avenging her brother’s broken heart...was a good cause right? Yes. It had to be, besides if Tobio let this instance slide who knew how many more slimy slippery people would try to do what Kei had done to him. So yes this was to set the tone that nobody, no-fucking-body would mess with Miwa’s brother and get away with it. This is what she would have done when Tobio had been humiliated on the set of In Between the Past and Present. She should have defended his honour back then as well, and sure she was grieving her grandfather’s loss; she should have done more for Tobio. So even though Miwa couldn’t go back in time she could focus on the future and she could defend Tobio right now. 

Nodding to herself, she pressed Kei’s number exhaling through her nose trying to calm her racing heart. “Hello?” a deep voice greeted her from the other end, sounding raspy like he hadn’t used it in a while, but then again Miwa didn’t know the guy and that might just be his real voice.

“Hello is this Kei Tsukishima?” she asked just to be sure not wanting to yell at a poor intern or assistant. 

“Yes, that’s me,” Kei answered,“who is this?”

“Don’t worry about it,” Miwa muttered, wondering if she should remain calm or unleash hell on this punk.

“Uhm...what?” 

“Are you alone?” she asked, not wanting to risk him being in a room with other people to spare Tobio the humiliation not this snake. She would literally dropkick him if she could, but her brother was deadly afraid of having people turn against him so that was a no go option. 

“Just give me a second,” he muttered. Unimpressed she frowned up at the ceiling hearing rustling from the other end of the phone. “Yeah I am now,” he said.

“Alright,” she took one big breath, her anger overtaking her and clouding her vision red, unleashing hell on this motherfucker it was,“listen up you little piece of shit. You are the worst kind of human being every, hell screw that you aren’t even a human! You like a fucking monster, because who the fuck do you think you are playing with my brother the way you did! Just because you’re famous doesn’t mean you get to treat somebody like shit, play them like you would one of your instruments--”

“--what?” he asked, clearly confused.

Rolling her eyes Miwa scrunched up her nose,“this is Miwa. As in Miwa Kageyama, Tobio’s older sister...you know the same Tobio who you played and whose heart you broke!” The venom dripped from her tone, and Miwa was glad her husband had taken Maleah with him, she didn’t need her baby to see this side of her, the same way she didn’t want Tobio to see this side of her. 

“Broke Tobio’s heart?! He left me! He ghosted me with no explanation whatsoever just disappearing into the night, so I don’t know what you’re on but the only one suffering here is me.” 

“What?! First of all, how do you have the audacity to say you’re the one suffering when Tobio hasn’t stopped crying since he found out what you were doing--”

“--what I was doing?” 

Kei genuinely sounded confused but Miwa could care less,“don’t interrupt when I’m speaking,” she snapped, knowing how easy it would have been for Kei to hang up and never talk to her again. Why hadn’t he hung up yet? “Secondly Tobio doesn’t owe you shit get off your high pedestal. Tobio could have dragged and ridiculed you over social media so fucking easily but he didn’t because he is a good guy and deep down still cares about you which you absolutely do not deserve! You don’t deserve his kindness and if--”

“--I need you to calm down and explain to me what the hell is happening, because all I know is that Tobio just left after the gala and I have been trying to reach him ever since.” 

Did Kei deserve this? Did he deserve to know that Tobio had found out about the bet? Blinking she thought about it, the man did sound very desperate, alright here goes nothing. It wasn’t like this was going to change anything. “He found out about the bet.”

“The bet?”

“Quit playing dumb and own up to it tha--”

“What bet?”

Kei actually sounded like he didn’t know what Miwa was talking about. Raking her brain Miwa tried to remember if she had read if the man was an actor or something like that since he genuinely seemed lost and confused, which didn’t make sense. “Yeah the bet...where you and your bandmates bet you could freeze his cold heart--”

“--oh my fucking god,” Kei whispered,“you’re trying to tell me that Tobio thinks our relationship is a bet?”

It was Miwa’s turn to be confused because what the actual fuck was happening? “What are you...what?”

“It’s a stupid joke...my bandmates they would never push somebody like that like ever. Oh my god Tobio actually thinks he’s a bet.”

“How the fuck is that a joke? I’m not laughing!”

“I’m pretty sure Tetsurou has always known about crush for Tobio so when there was the opportunity to work together he pounced on that, and shared it with Koutarou...but they were just oh my…”

“So what you’re telling me is that you have liked Tobio before New York?”

“Yes ever since I saw him on In Between the Past and Present...I just...he...yeah,” Kei sighed.” 

That was a plot twist Miwa hadn’t seen coming because what the hell,“so what you’re saying is that this is all a huge misunderstanding and...and now Tobio’s heart is broken for nothing?”

“Yes why the fuck would I bet on my relationship with Tobio? Do you even know who he is? He is a King I’m literally a commoner, why the fuck would I bet on the slim chance he might look into my direction? Why would I set myself up for failure like that?”

Swallowing Miwa nodded,“alright mr.self-confidence issues, I believe you but all that is coming out of your mouth shouldn’t be said to me. If you want to convince somebody it’s Tobio.”

Ke shakily exhaled, and with a pang Miwa realized the man was actually sincere,“he probably doesn’t want to see me.”

“Yes.” 

“Oh--” 

“But he deserves this, you and I both know he doesn’t owe you anything but this will be good closure no matter what happens. So stop doubting yourself and focus on fixing this, because if you’re being honest this whole mess is just one big misunderstanding. Okay?”

“Okay.” 

* * *

_ Present Day _

The rain had finally begun to fall, the sky opening releasing all the burdens it had been carrying, as raindrops hit the glass windows of the gallery. Tobio froze, eyes widening as he heard a familiar voice speak up behind him.

“Never knew you saw me that way King.” 

Biting his bottom lip, Tobio shakily exhaled through his nose, this wasn’t happening. This was all in his head. Memories of the past blended together with the present convincing him that Kei was here. Because there was no way in hell this was happening Kei wasn’t...he wasn’t here. 

Swallowing Tobio tried to ignore how his heart began to race in his chest, pumping his blood like it had forgotten how to in the last few weeks. Tobio could turn around and confirm that Kei wasn’t here, or he could stay in this fantasy where everything was okay. 

Closing his eyes Tobio focused on his breathing, before opening them again and slowly turning around. Tobio had been wondering if time had been moving backwards, but maybe just maybe time had slowed down eventually stopping until this moment. Had saved up all the hours, minutes, and seconds of the past few weeks that had blurred together to stop right here when blue met gold and for a second...a mere second the world held its breath waiting for Tobio to decide what to do. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alrighty so this chapter was 8000+ words and originally I wasn't going to leave it like this but yeah I had to split it up since it was getting just too big and what is a good story without some drama? ;))) don't hate me too much lmao....also there is literally nothing significant in the way they refer to each other in their thoughts, since the story already takes place in the West and over here we refer to people by the first names, I just did that so that it wouldn't be confusing with everybody in the story, and will continue this way because their last names are just so long and my fingers hurt from typing :// Y'all don't know this but I love writing stories like this jumping between times ya know like it's so much fun to see how time affects everything. As y'all can see we are so close to the end that it makes me sad since I've practically finished the later chapters it's just this one that dragging me off schedule :(( but whatevs this fic will have sixteen chapters which was originally supposed to be fifteen but this chapter just didn't want to end. On Twitter I shared how I'm planning to finish this fic this month cuz I have finals in December and don't want to drag this trash out so yeah...just manifesting that...oof it gets me in my feels  
> *Ku’uipo means sweetheart in Hawaiian  
> **Miwa totally gave Tobio and embarrassing nickname as a kid that just stuck ;))  
> ***not edited since it's so fucking long my bad guys :))


	13. Would Only Mean Heartbreak For Me

One moment Tobio stood right in front of Kei, close enough to touch, and the next he was gone, pushing past people before disappearing into the crowd that was looking at the painting of the crown. Kei stood on the tips of his toes looking around the gallery for Tobio. He knew the man didn’t exit the gallery through the front door, he wondered where the man could have disappeared to as he looked out of the windows seeing how the rain had started to fall. Reflecting his mood of hopelessness, Tobio had quite literally slipped through his fingers like water. 

“If I was Tobio I would have killed you, and let the public wonder what happened to the ‘oh so great Kei Tsukishima’,” a voice drawled from behind him.

Kei turned around meeting Sakusa’s unimpressed glare, narrowing his eyes, he wanted to snap at the man. Instead he sighed shoulders slumping over,“if I was Tobio I would have done the same,” he admitted.

Sakusa looked a bit surprised by this although it was hard to tell with the face mask he was wearing,“so what Miwa said is true? This is all a huge misunderstanding?”

How many people knew about what happened between him and Tobio? The huge misunderstanding between them that resulted in this mess. Nodded Kei asked,“how do you know Miwa?”

“None of your business,” Sakusa said,“for somebody who is supposed to be smart you’re quite dumb for this misunderstanding.”

“You think I don’t know that?” Kei asked, clenching his jaw, he knew he was a fucking dumbass for playing along with Kuroo and Bokuto. He knew he was a dumbass for not questioning the fact that if Suna had overheard that conversation other people might have as well, including Tobio. He knew he fucked up and he knew the chances of Tobio taking him back were slim to none, but he owed the other man an explanation, because Tobio didn’t deserve the heartbreak he was currently experiencing. Swallowing he looked directly into Sakusa’s dark eyes, that reminded him of black holes, sucking away all the light,“I’m here for Tobio because he deserves an explanation. 

Sakusa nodded while frowning before pointing at the black curtains on the opposite end of the room,"there is an exit there, he left through there.”

Kei tried his best not to look dumbfoundedly at Sakusa for helping him,“thank you?”

“Don’t flatter yourself, I'm doing this for Tobio not you."

Kei smirked at this,“still thanks,” he said over his shoulder as he headed to the exit behind the black curtain. Taking a deep breath he opened the door, which led to the alleyway behind the gallery, a single point of entrance and exit from the outside, big dumpsters catching his eyes, scrunching up his nose he continued forward into the alleyway that looked like it had come straight out of a horror movie, with the way the sun had already set, and the only light source coming from the flickering lamp above the door. The view was sinister but Keisters pushed through it, and true to his word Kei found Tobio where Sakusa said he would be, bent over, hands resting on his knees as he took deep breaths, the rain wetting him with every second that passed. The dumbass didn’t even take his jacket with him...well Kei couldn’t really blame him. Since he himself would have done exactly the same if he had been in Tobio’s shoes. 

“King,” he said, reaching out for Tobio, who shook his head, stuttering breaths leaving his mouth. Kei knew he shouldn’t touch Tobio, should just give the man his space, but goddamnit ~~his~~...Tobio was panicking and Kei wasn’t going to leave him alone. Regretting wearing glasses as raindrops covered them he hugged Tobio, holding the shorter man to his chest.

Tobio was full-on crying, warm tears mingling with the cold rain,“you...you...why?” he breathed out, clearly conflicted if he wanted to break free from Kei’s embrace or if he wanted to drown in it. And Kei felt the same knew he was hurting Tobio and himself by doing this, holding the man with a promise to never let go if that was what Tobio wanted. Would hold Tobio for the rest of his life if he could, tell him about how stupid he was and that Tobio was absolutely everything to him.

They hugged while the rain fell on them, drenching them, they hugged as the cold December breeze moved them closer together, and the smell of trash became unbearable. They hugged even though they heard squeaks coming from the dumpsters that Kei knew were coming from rats.

And then they stopped hugging. Tobio freed himself from Kei’s embrace moving backwards holding his hands up in both surrender and for Kei not to take another step towards him. There was once again a distance between them, the cold December air tried it's hardest to push them back together to no avail. The smell of trash was still offending Kei’s nostrils, but now it was overpowering the way Tobio smelled like clean linen. The moment was over as Tobio closed his eyes facing the sky instead of the ground, washing the tears away, replacing them with fresh water droplets. 

“Tobe--” Kei began when he was cut off.

"--you!" Tobio whispered opening his eyes, before narrowing them pointing at Kei, anger ablaze in those blue eyes like the fires of hell,"really really hurt me. I thought you liked me for me and not my name or my my my--" Tobio's voice broke and he looked away from Kei, unable to maintain eye contact, the blue fire wilting away being replaced by tears of heartbreak,"I just thought I was something more than a bet," he whispered so softly that Kei's heart broke into two,“an easy bet,” he whispered, all the anger he had been displaying vanishing so quickly, leaving behind open wounds that Kei had left behind. Kei had done this to Tobio. 

Kei touched his chest,"I am sorry Tobio please believe me, you are not a bet, not now, not ever."

“An easy bet,” Tobio corrected. 

Kei wanted to huff out a laugh and tease Tobio, but he could see the genuine pain in the younger man’s eyes, which made him wish he was able to go back in time and punch both Bokuto and Kuroo. “The reason I said you were easy was because it was so easy to...just exist with you.”

Tobio rolled his eyes, tears mixing with rain falling over them, Kei just wanted to wipe them off soft cheeks,"I know what I heard," he muttered bitterly shaking his head. 

Kei looked Tobio straight in the eyes,"Tetsurou and Koutarou were just joking around, they would never push anybody to play with somebody's feelings like that. I know what you heard didn't sound good and the way it sounded...the way it sounded made it seem like you were a bet. But please believe me when I say you’re not...and it was stupid of me for joining their teasing and making it sound like I was only with you because of a bet--”

Shaking his head Tobio closed his eyes, tears slipping through them,“I don’t know what to believe--”

“Okay,” Kei sighed he had prepared for this,“you don’t need to believe me but just...just let me make one phone call.”

Tobio bit his bottom lip, rolling it in between his pearly teeth, he hesitantly nodded,“okay.” 

Kei pulled out his phone, cursing the rain as his finger slipped on the screen, Tobio audibly swallowed, taking a step forward, grabbing Kei’s phone from his hands and unlocking it, handing it back to Kei with shaking hands. “Thank you,” he muttered, Tobio didn’t reply. 

Pulling up Suna’s number he dialled it, having accepted that this was the end. Tobio didn’t want anything to do with him. Taking his phone and unlocking it was just him taking pity on Kei. 

“What?” Suna’s annoyed voice sounded. 

Kei pressed the speaker button,“I’m calling in that favour you owe me,” Suna owing somebody something was rare, and Kei had mainly kept the favour for blackmail material since Suna had dirt on everybody. But this was a good cause and Kei needed to do this for both Tobio’s and his own peace.

“Alright, you're sure you want to cash in the one favour I owe you today?”

“Yes.” 

“Be my guest, so what’s up?”

“Remember the gala and how you were intrigued with what you heard, which led you to interrogate me?” 

Tobio wordlessly watched the exchange eyes focused on Kei’s phone that was getting wetter by the second. Kei supposes he should be glad it was waterproof, but even if it wasn’t he would have willingly ruined his phone to make sure Tobio knew the truth.

“Yeah? And you admitted to being whipped for somebody because of how comfortable and good they make you feel,” Suna said and Kei could just imagine him smirking,“what did you say again? They’re not somebody that’s easy to get with, they're just an easy person to hangout with, somebody who you actually enjoy spending time with who doesn’t ever drain you from your oh so very limited energy, thus equaling an easy bet. That’s what you said right? Fucking Romeo,” Suna laughed.

The back of Kei’s ears heated up embarrassed by the way Suna had just outright exposed him like that, but the feeling soon faded as he looked at Tobio who was staring at the phone as if it held the answers to the universe. 

“Shut up,” he murmured. 

“Hope you can continue being this whipped for your Juliet.” 

“Shut up.” 

“So whippe--

“--okay bye--”

“--wait what was the fav--”

Kei hung up the phone, slowly Tobio’s eyes met his, and they were back to Broadway, when they both stared at each other. Back to the beginning when Kei oh so fondly thought of how pretentious the King was, and god was he absolutely enamoured with the man in front of him, no matter how pretentious he got. 

Tobio pointed at his phone,“you probably ruined it,” he sighed, sniffing slightly. 

“Who cares?”

“Why?” 

Kei looked at Tobio, looked at those blue eyes that kept on changing shades, so that Kei could never pinpoint the color. He saw different questions floating around but the important one was 'the why are you doing this' that Tobio left unsaid. His answer would either give him another chance or give some peace to Tobio.

“Because I love you,” Kei whispered, the cold December air echoing the words around him although they left like an exhaling breath. Because that was essentially all there was to it, loving Tobio was as easy as breathing.

Tobio’s eyes widened, he opened and closed his mouth, rapidly blinking at Kei or the rain that was getting in his eyes. Before sighing, letting out a very meager,“why?” that had Kei’s blood boiling because didn’t this idiot see how wonderful he was?

"Why?” Kei asked incredulously, frowning,“because every single day I spend with you I learn something new, whether I want to or not with the way you always find those weird facts.” Kei didn’t know what set him off because suddenly he couldn’t stop talking, looking at Tobio and just feeling his heart burst with both love and affection, and the lingering sadness that this just might be the last time he ever talked to the brunet like this. “You...you make me want to reach for more, I actually believe I’m capable of more when I’m around you. And I know all these things about you that just...that I never stop thinking about because they all belong to you, like I know you are very particular with your skin care routine but aren’t that thorough with your hair. And I know that whenever you're ever lost in a grocery store there are two aisles I can find you in either by the dairy products or the laundry detergents.”

Tobio stared at him with shock like he actually didn’t know...didn’t understand why Kei knew this about him, like he hadn’t made himself a permanent fixture in Kei’s life. So Kei continued on because the dork in front of him didn’t even know his own influence.

“You know you're good when it comes to acting, singing, dancing, and modelling, and won't apologize for this, other people can do whatever they want with it. But that doesn’t mean you stop working hard, you work until you can’t get it wrong anymore, you work until perfection.”

And it was true Tobio was one of the hardest workers Kei had ever come across, he had first just assumed it was talent that made Tobio King of the Stage, but it wasn’t just that, it was also his hardwork and dedication to preserve those talents. 

“It's infuriating how you're able to draw and paint so well while always downplaying it. You always make your own art seem like it’s trash compared to what you do on the stage or in front of a camera. Which is utter bullshit since...like have you seen everything you displayed today?” 

Tobio was insecure about his art, he felt shy displaying it. He had told Kei about it multiple times, how personal his art was and how terrifying it was that people would be able to look at it, even though he was working under an alias.

“I know you hate taking the train because sometimes you forget your stop since you're too busy listening to the performers or simply observing how dirty the whole place is,” this had happened multiple times causing Tobio to come home late after meeting up with somebody. Hell he had even done it when showing New York to Kei only for the blond to have to take over the date and show Tobio New York, because he could read a map. 

“I also know you don't like coffee because it makes your stomach hurt and you don't have much of a sweet tooth but love to bake. You love to cook because it gives you control and it isn’t an exact science like baking, so you just go with feeling.”

Blue eyes swimming in red met Kei’s golden ones behind his water stained glasses. The world had slowed down and it was just the two of them, all the elements around them quietening. This was Tobio and Kei’s world, just them together.

“I love you,” Kei said into the silence,“and I know saying that isn't enough to take away all the pain I caused, but please let me prove myself to you. Just give me another chance Tobio.”

“Why?” Tobio whispered so softly Kei was sure it wasn’t meant for his ears.

“Because I have been enamoured with you ever since I saw you on In Between the Past and Present...and I want to do everything with you. From white picket fences to swingsets in the backyard. The whole deal Tobes...the whole fucking deal King. Just one chance Tobio...just one chance."

There was a beat of silence between them as Tobio bit his bottom lip eyes avoiding Kei’s. The blond knew the brunet had made his decision. The world came back again, the cold December air cutting into them, the rain falling harder and faster than before. The shitty light flickered fast, as if it’s life dependent on this. While thunder roared loudly in the background, cars passed by the alley and suddenly the world wasn’t just Tobio and him. 

Kei swallowed,“okay,” he sighed defeated,“you don’t owe me anything,” and Tobio really really didn’t,“but please don’t let whatever happened between us deter you from...from pursuing other relationships.” 

He wanted Tobio, wanted him in the most selfish way possible, all his to take, but more than that he wanted Tobio to be happy and if that wasn’t with him that was okay. Because at the end of the day all that mattered was whether or not those two deep dimples were on the man’s cheeks and his blue eyes were glowing. Kei could survive with letting Tobio go if that meant he would be happy, which was a huge feat for Kei who would have never done this when he was in high school. High school Kei would have let Tobio slip through his fingers like the rain that was slipping through them now, let him slip without a fight. Adult Kei was proud of himself for putting up a fight with his anxieties and letting Tobio know what really transpired, even though he would forever be jealous of the person who got to be with Tobio and experience him in all his royal glory.

Tobio’s head snapped upwards fists clenched at his side as he watched Kei nod at him with sagging shoulders, the pain of this moment would probably kick in later,“bye Tobio,” Kei whispered, regretting wearing glasses today as they caused Tobio’s regalness be overshadowed by the rain sliding down from them. Turning around Kei committed Tobio’s ethereal self and beauty to memory even while they were surrounded by literal garbage in a shady alleyway, and the only light between them slowly dying out. 

Sniffing a bit and immediately regretting it when the rancid scent of rotting food entered his nostrils, Kei walked towards both the exit and opening of the alley. “Kei!” Tobio yelled causing the blond to turn around meeting a very angry Tobio. “How dare you?” Tobio hissed, gripping Kei’s wet leather jacket in his bunched up fists, pulling him down,“how dare you leave after saying you love me?” the brunet said shakily, the tears from earlier never having stopped.

Kei blinked at this, didn’t Tobio want him to leave? Hadn’t the man’s silence said enough? Didn’t that silence tell Kei that the man was over him and their relationship was over and done? “Wasn’t that what you wanted?” he asked, cold hands taking Tobio’s colder ones in his own. 

“Did I tell you to leave asshole?” Tobio spat out,“you...your...why?”

“King you’re not making any sense right now?”

Tobio exhaled through his mouth, moving his hands out of Kei’s, cold hands found themselves on Kei’s leather jacket, opening his mouth to say something Kei watched Tobio close his eyes, hiding beautiful blues underneath his eyelids,"I love you too," he whispered so softly that Kei had to strain his ears to hear it.

Kei’s heart began to pound in his chest, making its presence known, like it had gone on mini-vacay in the past month,“what?” he asked bewildered.

Tobio opened his eyes, and Kei could finally name the shade, ultramarine, the same exact shade of paint he had gotten for the man, meaning beyond the sea, because that’s just how fucking magical Tobio was. “I love you Kei,” Tobio shakily said with a smile flashing his dimples, effectively taking Kei’s breath away,“like a lot...and...and,” pulling Kei downwards,“I don’t want a white fence.”

“Okay we’ll get a brown one,” Kei said smiling, hands finding their way to Tobio’s waist, ignoring the scurrying of the rats that he saw from his peripheral vision.

“Also I want a dog but animals don’t like me.”

“We’ll just get a blind one.”

“Kei!”

“Fine if we happen to stumble on a blind one we’ll take it and if not we’ll get one professionally trained not to hate you.”

Tobio nodded at this giggling a bit,“your glasses are wet.”

Kei smirked at this,“you think?”

Shaking his head, Tobio took Kei’s glasses off his face, folding them, hanging them into the inside of his blck turtleneck long sleeved shirt. “Now they’re safe from the elements,” Tobio laughed, both of them leaning into each other, ignoring the clicking noises the rats were making, probably playing with empty cans. 

“Yeah they are,” Kei breathed out, eyes zeroing in on Tobio’s pink lips, the man in front of him in his full glory dimming the world around them,“may I?” he asked, voice filled with want. 

“Yes,” Tobio barely got his answer out as Kei pulled him into a kiss. They kissed like the world was their, softly and slowly, not rushing in like the electricity in the air would suggest. Because why would they? They had tomorrow and the after that and the day after that and so forth. They had more than enough time, kissing softly, a kiss so sweet slowly reacquainting with each other, as if they could truly forget each other.

Pulling apart they rested their foreheads together, enjoying the closeness they had missed in the last couple of weeks. Tobio smiled up at Kei dimples fully on display, pearly whites shining, Kei’s eyes softened as he looked at the man in his arms. God he was absolutely pathetically in love with Tobio Kageyama, and that was more than okay. They relished in each other's company, their hearts beating as one as big smiles showed on their faces. 

“I really missed you,” Tobio whispered.

Warmth overtook Kei’s body leaving him burning in the best way possible,“I missed you too,” he admitted,“even watched that stupid show you like so much can’t believe what happ--”

“Shh,” Tobio shushed him fondly,“I stopped watching it because you left, plus it isn’t that stupid.”

Kei chuckled at this,“you didn’t miss much,” which was a lie since a shit ton had happened in the last month.

Pouting up at him Tobio shook his head,“liar.”

“Yeah. If it makes you feel any better I didn’t get to watch the newest dinosaur documentary.”

“It was pretty good. Did you know tha--”

“Wait you watched it?”

Tobio nodded,“yes and I learned tha--”

“Babe no, don’t spoil it from me.”

Tobio blinked up at Kei from beneath his lashes and Kei just wanted to do so many things to the man in front of him,“okay, but we both need to watch our things.”

Kei sighed,“we’ll start with your dumb show.”

Tobio smiled at this,“you like it.”

“No.” 

“Yes.” 

“No.” 

“Yes.” 

Kei rolled his eyes,“agree to disagree.”

“Agree to disagree,” Tobio repeated. There was a great big flash bringing them back to earth, looking up at the sky Tobio frowned,“the storm is coming,” he said as the thunder loudly rumbled a few seconds later. 

Clicking his tongue, Kei took in the way small tremors were running through Tobio’s body, “your going to get sick King,” he said disapprovingly, stepping back a little so he could take off his jacket, holding it above Tobio and his own head. “Let's go home.”

“Yeah,” Tobio agreed, slightly leaning into Kei’s side, wetting him. On another day Kei would have complained, but right now he could care less. They walked out of the alley taking a right, or well Kei took a right and Tobio followed clearly not knowing where they were. “It’s so cold,” Tobio huffed.

“It’s December babe, which reminds me, happy birthday.”

Tobio smiled at this,“thank you,” before smirking at Kei narrowing his eyes,“hope my present includes you finding a way to warm me up.”

Kei returned Tobio’s smirk, already excited for what was to come,“insatiable King.”

Shrugging innocently Tobio said,“should have read the fine print before you declared us to be the whole deal.” 

“Uhm can’t complain with these conditions,” Kei smiled. 

“You better not.”

“Wait I think I want a lawyer.”

Tobio hit him in the stomach,“ah,” Kei grumbled watching how his boyfriend simply smiled.

“Oops my hand slipped.”

“Asshole,” Kei hissed. 

“Yeah but I’m your asshole.”

“Amen to that babe.” New York should really thank Kei for having so much self control, because a little slip up would have him defiling his boyfriend in public with no objection with the way Tobio looked at him, biting his bottom lip. Hallelujah to Tobio Kageyama. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope everybody's hearts that were broken are okay, like I was always going to have them end together, I don't know why you people were stressing, like y'all should have just trusted me ;)) I mean like why wouldn't you trust me? I haven't...alright I'm just playing but oof this is definitely one of my favourite chapters because yes to everything that happened. Dramatic scene in the rain, confessing love in the rain, yes...Did y'all notice how the title is a continuation from last chapter's title? They're connected, pretty clever if you ask me ;))) Their reconciliation might seem abrupt but remember this was written all from Kei's perspective which means there is a lot we don't know what Tobio thought during this whole ordeal. I did this intentionally as a way to leave it up to you guys and keep it mysterious because I personally like analyzing shit and also cuz I'm lazy but whatever. I wrote and published this chapter from my phone so like don't mind the no editing my laptop died on me which makes it incredibly hard to both write and publish the next chapters so there might just be a break in December due to exams that I'm really trying to avoid. Crossing my fingers that won't happen and either my laptop gets fixed or I get a new one by Friday, both options that suck like ughsgshs. Have a great day everybody, may your electronics live longer than my stupid laptop did :))


	14. So the Trouble Ends

Shouyou was an early riser, always had been and would be. Sure he didn't wake up at any crazy times anymore like he had in high school, but he was up before noon which had to count for something. And like anybody else living in the twenty-first century he started his day off by checking his phone...which he regretted really quickly. 

As nothing in his life could have prepared him for what he saw trending on the internet, specifically Twitter. His eyes widened as he looked at the bolded trending tag  **Tsukikage** and wondered what that could possibly mean. Curiosity overtaking him, he clicked on the number one trending tag, wondering why so many people were talking about it. Shouyou regretted his decision immediately when he saw pictures of a familiar blond kissing a familiar brunet. Guess ignorance truly is bliss since the pain in his chest couldn’t be captured in words, how stupid of him to think that Tsukishima saw him as something more than a friend.

Sucking in his cheek Shouyou zoomed into the photos, ignoring all the comments beneath the photo, heart clenching more so with the fact that his friends hadn’t trusted him enough to tell him they were dating than that Tsukishima was taken. It wasn’t fair! Shouyou had declared Kageyama to be his best friend ever, and he was! They literally spent so much time together so why hadn’t the blue eyed man told him he was dating the blond?

Bringing his arm back he threw his phone across the room, anger mixing in with the disappointment in his chest, with a thud the device landed on the carpeted floor. Gasping when he realized Yamaguchi didn’t know the new yet, he jumped out of bed yelling,"Tadashi!" as he ran towards Yamaguchi’s room,“Tadashi! Tadashi! Tadashi! Wake up!” he threw his friend's door open.

“Whaa?” Yamaguchi yawned, blinking the sleep out of his eyes,“what’s happening?” 

“Look at your phone!” 

“Whaaa? Why?” Yamaguchi asked, burrowing himself back underneath the covers, eyes closing.

“Just do it! Just do it!” Shouyou said, jumping onto his friend’s bed, wrestling the covers off him. 

Frowning Yamaguchi got up, grabbing his phone that had fallen underneath the bed because of how messy of a sleeper the man was,“this betta be good,” he muttered underneath his breath, no doubt ready to throw hands with Shouyou if it came down to it, no matter how sleepy he was. “I don’t se--”

“Go to Twitter and click on the first trending tag!” 

Rolling his eyes, albeit awkwardly since they still wanted to shut down, Yamaguchi went to Twitter clicking on the bolded  **Tsukikage** text. Sharply inhaling when he saw the pictures for himself the same way Shouyou had five minutes ago. 

“What...are these real?”

“Do they look fake to you?”

“No.” 

“Exactly.” 

“So Tsukki and Tobio are together?” he whispered more to himself than Shouyou.

Shouyou shrugged,“I have no idea...nothing is confirmed and...and they didn’t tell me anything.”

Yamaguchi swallowed,“they didn’t tell me anything either, what the...wh--” eyes widening as he refreshed his Twitter feed,“never mind.”

“Never mind what?” Shouyou asked, wondering what had happened for Yamaguchi to pale like that. 

Dark brown eyes meeting Shouyou’s Yamaguchi wordlessly passed his phone over, and to add salt to his injury the one and only Kei Tsukishima had just confirmed his relationship with Tobio Kageyama at exactly eleven forty-five in the morning, before Shouyou had even time to eat or drink something. 

Both looking at each other with matching looks of heartbreak Shouyou asked,"alcohol?"

"Alcohol," Yamaguchi agreed.

* * *

Tadashi had been friends with Kei Tsukishima for a long time now, but even he could admit how this...this relationship his best friend was in had blindsided him. Had come barreling into him like a truck that had lost control on black ice. Tadashi was at a loss so many questions floated around his head, all leading down to the three lettered why. 

Why? Why? Why? Why? 

The question churned around in his head like a whirlpool, and he supposes the heartbreak of never having a chance with Tsukishima didn’t hurt as much as his best friend in the whole world not telling him about his relationship. 

“Why didn’t Tsukki…” hic hic “tell me?” Tadashi hiccuped, asking the question, not expecting an answer out of Hinata. Tadashi wondered when he had started to cry as he felt his cheeks, tears slipping landing onto his messed up sheets. 

Hinata wiped his own nose with his sleeve,“why didn’t stupid Tobio tell me?!” he yelled frustrated with everything,“I thought we were friends, I even told him about the vice principal incident!”

“Ah!” Tadashi gasped,“no you didn’t, that story is only for real ones.” 

And the story truly was one for only real ones, of Tsukishima and Hinata fighting over drumsticks and accidentally flicking one into the vice principal’s face. To say the vice principal was angry was an understatement, and added onto his anger was Tsukishima’s who had effectively banned anybody from even mentioning what happened. So if he found out that Hinata had told Kageyama the story there would be hell to pay. 

Hinata sniffed grabbing the bottle out of Tadahi’s hands to take a sip,“I know,” he wailed,“and now he is going to tell Kei I told him that and then...and then Kei is going to be angry!”

That was so sad, not only did Hinata have to deal with the fact that his self-proclaimed best friend didn’t tell him he was in a relationship with Hinata’s crush, he also had to deal with Tsukishima’s anger. So sad, Tadashi really felt for his friend.

Grabbing the bottle back from Hinata he was surprised to see it half finished, ignoring the wet stains on his sheet since he and Hinata drank laying down, frowning he grabbed his phone how late was it? Looking at the time he giggled,“Shouyou it’s already two and we still didn’t brush our teeth or eat something.”

Hinata joined his giggling,“sober us is going to...sober us...us...sober you know us who isn’t drunk is...they’re...hahahahah...going to hate us.”

“Woah.” 

“Yeah.” 

“Sober me already hates me...they don’t need more reasons.”

“That’s sad.” 

“Super sad.”

“Super duper duper sad.”

“Yeah like how Kei didn’t tell us he was dating Tobio,” Shouyou said, scratching elbow. 

Tadashi pouted, taking another swing of the bottle, the amber liquid dribbling down the side of his mouth,“that was an asshole thing to do from both of them.”

“Right can’t believe Tobio stole my man!”

Frowning at Hinata’s statement Tadashi corrected him,“he stole  _ my  _ man!”

“My man.”

“My man.”

“He is mine Tadashi!”

“He is Tobio’s, Shouyou!”

Hinata huffed angrily crossing his arms,“I don’t even hate Tobio for it...I want to...but I don’t.”

Tadashi nodded,“I don’t hate either of them...I’m angry they didn’t tell us but I think...I think there must be a good reason for it.”

“I’m happy for them,” Hinata pursed his lips tracing patterns with his finger in the ceiling,“they’re a very hot couple.”

“True.” 

“Like gwaaaaaah people will literally stop everything to look at them.”

Tadashi laughed at this,“they’re also both emotionally constipated.”

“Aww,” Hinata awed no doubt thinking about the idiots,“they’re meant to be.” 

“It’s cute.”

“Adorable.” 

A comfortable silence passed between them when Tadashi with a startle realized that the signs were all there. They were literally all there. “Shouyou,” he said, as the answers of the universe unfolded themselves in front of him,“the answers were literally all there.”

“What?” 

“Tsukki and Tobio dating, they were literally all there, oh my god.” 

Hinata narrowed his eyes deep in thought before snapping his finger together sitting upright in the bed,“oh my god they were...Kei is a simp!” he giggled.

Tadashi nodded,“he’s so desperate--” he said, remembering how hostile Kei had during the cover photoshoot for the band's album. How he had practically been ready to throw hands with everybody whenever they mentioned just how hot Kageyama was. Tadashi was sure Tsukishima had made a kill list that day when a handsy assistant tried to make a move onto a very oblivious Kageyama. Or how he even shot Tadashi who was the photographer for the shoot a glare when he accidentally scared Kageyama. Who would have thought Kei Tsukishima was so desperate for a certain King? 

“--can’t believe we didn’t notice it.” 

Tadashi joined Hinata sitting up, pushing the bottle into the redhead's hands who greedily drank from it, grabbing his phone, Tadashi unlocked it, clicking on Tsukishima’s number as he sent his friend a text. 

“What did you just do?” Hinata asked, swiping his mouth with the back of his hand. 

“I asked him if their relationship was a secret since he was so obvious,” Tadashi laughed, because truly all the signs were there. 

Hinata nodded at this with approval,“we should tease Kei whenever we can.”

“We should.” 

Jutting out his bottom lip Hinata pouted,“My hearts like it cracked like craghhhh.” 

“Mine too.”

“And I’m still sad.”

“Me too.”

And it was true, both men were sad that they didn’t have a chance with Tsukishima, and that their friends hadn’t told them about the relationship. But they were also happy for their friends and all the teasing material they had on the blond, since he was truly simping hard after Kageyama. Besides seeing that lovestruck look on Tsukishima’s face was reward enough even if they weren’t the cause for it, because who couldn’t fall in love with Kageyama when he was smiling all dimpled like that? 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I HATE THIS CHAPTER omfg this is the chapter that made me want to delete this whole fic holy shit have you ever read something more anticlimactic and just filled with garbage?!!!!! Okay whatever, in my defense I am writing this on my phone since my new laptop is going to come in 2021...my new laptop is coming in 2021...I have online exams all of December and want to die but it's all good because it's whatever...back to this garbage chapter I wanted a parallel scene to how they planned the "bet" and how it ended, since I do think they would be happy but sad ya know like more hurt with Tsukikage not telling them instead of like Tsukki being unavailable. Besides I gave them blackmail material on Tsukki it's all good lmao ;)) Also they spilled more than they drank...they're so dumb...but so good...  
> *I tried so hard to finish this in November since my finals literally start from the 2nd and go till the end of the month...so idk what I'm going to do since the next chapter is not going to be long but ya know it has to make up for this fucking garbage...excuse my language I just hate this chapter a lot like a lot...fingers crossed I'll get it done by the end of this week  
> **thank y'all for the comments and kudos, sorry for not replying ao3 on my phone is a bitch ngl...do keep em coming tho!! :)))


	15. Baby I Choose You

Opening his eyes Tobio blinked the sleep out of them, looking around the dark room, scrunching up his nose in confusion when he couldn’t really make sense of the situation. Soft breaths were warming up the back of his neck arms tightened around his middle. Slowly turning his head around he came face to face with Kei. Tobio smiled remembering everything that had happened the night before. It was kind of funny now that he thought about it, since their confessions kind of looked like scenes from cheesy drama movies. But who was Tobio to complain when he himself loved cheesy drama movies? 

Biting his bottom lip, he intertwined his fingers with Kei’s, wondering how late it was. Like always Tobio had woken up before Kei did, since the blond could sleep in for hours if he desired to do so Tobio just had to guess the time...or he could just...he could just check Kei’s phone and look at memes while he was at it. 

Wincing he changed sides, Kei’s grip on him tightening like Tobio was running away from him. Suppressing the groans that were about to leave his mouth, he rested his forehead against Kei’s shoulder, lower parts of his body unbelievably sore. Tobio vowed to never skip doing his exercises when he was going through a heartbreak. 

Once the burn subsided, he wiggled a bit out of Kei’s death grip, so he could watch the blond sleep, wanting to trace his face with the tip of his finger. He would have done so but his boyfriend got cranky if woken up before he deemed it to be a reasonable hour. Looking Kei, Tobio's heart did backflips in his chest, because of how absolutely gorgeous his boyfriend was. Tobio understood why so many of the blond's fans were absolutely devoted to him, because he too would do anything for the blond if it meant that they could be together. Reaching over Kei to the nightstand he felt around for the blond’s phone, biting his tongue when he knocked something over. Probably Kei’s water bottle since the blond sometimes got thirsty at night. Whatever fell loudly hit the floor, and Kei jerked awake.

Tobio panicked not wanting another lecture from Kei about how he was always so loud in the morning. Quickly closing his eyes he pretended to be asleep, feeling Kei sitting up in bed, his no doubt judging eyes watching Tobio. 

“For an actor you suck at pretending to be asleep,” Kei drawled, voice heavy with sleep.

Tobio opened his eyes pouting,“I was trying to be quiet.”

“You being quiet? Impossible.” 

Glaring at the blond Tobio huffed,“it wasn’t even that loud.” Seeing the teasing look in Kei’s eyes, Tobio knew that the blond was about to say something stupid,“stop,” he said before Kei could even open his mouth. 

“I haven’t even said anything.”

“You had that stupid look in your eyes.”

“Takes one to know one, doesn’t it babe?” 

Shaking his head Tobio softly stroked his fingers through Kei’s messy bed hair, his golden waves defying gravity sticking up in every direction. Patting them down, he asked,“can you pass me your phone?” 

Kei rolled his eyes but still grabbed his phone from the nightstand, handing it over to Tobio,“what’s the time?”

“It’s seven thirty.”

“King,” Kei muttered tiredly, eyes growing heavy as he flopped back onto his pillow, turning to the side, opening his arms for Tobio to take place in, so that they could cuddle, as Tobio wasn’t going back to sleep like Kei. 

Shuffling backwards, Kei tightened his arms around Tobio,“I slept in,” Tobio muttered, unlocking Kei’s phone, heading to Reddit, having had to redownload it after Kei had deleted it, claiming it to be a toxic platform. Tobio agreed but he liked reading the different threads, so he pleaded with Kei who gave in.

Kei sighed heavily,“babe sleeping in means sleeping in, not waking up when the sun is still rising.” 

“It’s winter.”

“Doesn’t matter.” 

“Bu--” 

“King.” 

“Asshole.” 

“Yeah, yeah, just let me sleep for another hour or four.” 

Tobio rolled his eyes but complied with Kei’s request, eyes focused on the phone in his hands, eyes reading a very am-I-the-asshole post, about somebody not being able to put up much longer with the overbearing people in their partner’s life and thus ghosting them. Tobio frowned at the post not knowing what he would have done, sure he had ghosted Kei before but in his defense he was hurt...honesty Tobio didn’t think he should have an opinion on this post, scrolling further he read through different posts, frowning at the audacity of some people. 

Looking at the time he was surprised that it was already nine o’clock, two hours having passed by in a blur as he went from thread to thread. Sometimes searching for updates on certain posts, other times being sucked into interesting discussions about shows he watched. 

Swiping upwards, he went to Twitter looking through the different memes on Kei's timeline, smiling at some very ridiculous ones, that he would have shown Kei if it weren’t for the fact that blond seemed very at peace. Once he had liked and bookmarked the most funniest ones he went through the trending page noticing a weird tag trending. 

‘What the hell is **Tsukikage** ,’ he thought, clicking on the tag.

All the air left the room and Tobio’s heart started to race as he looked at five photos of him and Kei. The first one was Tobio taking Kei’s glasses off his face, the second one was them leaning into each other, the third one was them kissing and the fourth one was the clearest of all clearly taking with some kind of flash. It showed the aftermath of their kiss the rain forming some kind of halo around them as their foreheads rested against each other, they were smiling widely, Tobio’s dimples on full display alongside the lovestruck look in Kei’s eyes. The fifth picture was Kei holding his jacket over Tobio’s head back to the dark resolution that pictures one to three had. They were clearly taken yesterday, Tobio couldn’t figure out how this had happened, as he once again looked at the fourth picture. He didn’t remember seeing any paparazzi so...so how the fuck had this happened?

Swallowing Tobio scrolled down looking at the things people said about ‘Tsukikage’, quickly regretting it as he read the many _many_ tweets hating him.

**@keifan1234-6:** _what would Kei ever want with somebody so ugly??_

> **@tootiredforthisbs:** _why would you call Tobio ugly? What do his looks have to do with anything, and get your eyes checked cuz Tobio is fine af_

**@Keimarryme:** _Tobio Kageyama is just a loser with a failed acting career who needs some media and decides to date kei_

> **@KingHarry:** _Yess I don’t even know who he is and I am twelve_
> 
> **@badam:** _Right like who is this ugly ass dude that looks like Kei found him on the streets._
> 
> **@Keimarryme:** _Omg you’re right hahah #returntobiokageyamatothestreets_
> 
> **@badam:** _Yes! #returntobiokageyamatothestreets_

**@keideservesbetter:** _Tobio Kageyama is literally a cold hearted moron, there's a reason people call him King and it isn't cuz he looks like one_

> **@tobioisamazing:** _unless you know him personally you can't judge his character like that...you sure have a lot of nerve to imply he is ugly looking like a half chewed up burger_

**@tobiowho?:** _Who even is this gold digger?_

> **@TobioKageyamarockss:** _He is THE YOUNGEST EGOT WINNER EVER, somebody whose been acting since he came out of the womb and certainly no gold digger._
> 
> **@Kageyamaisbae:** _He is very talented and hard working and a dork who deserves all the love in the world especially after all this fucking hate!_
> 
> **@IloveyouTobio:** _A WORLD RENOWNED THEATRE STAR WHO HAS PERFORMED FOR MANY HEAD OF STATES_

**@helpkeitsukishima:** _Kei looks so sad and trapped we need to help him guys!! I bet it’s a ploy done by their management to get the band more rep for their upcoming projects...so we must get this hashtag trending #SaveKeiTsukishima_

> **@Shouyouisbabey:** _I don’t know what you’re looking at but Kei has literally never looked this happy ever._
> 
> **@MJTsukki:** _He is literally frowning in the first pic, that Tobio demanded his leather jacket...I’ve been a fan of Kei since the band debuted so I know him well and I can tell that he is asking to be saved._
> 
> **@fuckthemkids:** _He is frowning cuz it’s raining...and water is getting on his glasses which is annoying, which is why Tobio took them??_
> 
> **@ShouyouTsukishima:** _You don’t know Kei like I do...Shouyou and Kei 4eva_

**@lettsukikagebe:** _literally nobody and I mean nobody is entitled to say shit about this relationship, like privacy people pri-fucking-cy what's so hard to understand that just cuz you like a famous person doesn't mean you're entitled to PRIVATE information. The audacity is crazy…_

> **@fucktsukikage:** _What do you even mean with that? Are you fucking stupid?! They owe their fans answers!! Without their fans they would have been nowhere so yes we are entitled to this information and yes we will demand it!_
> 
> **@KeiKuroo:** _Exactly without us they would be nowhere so this is the LEAST they could do for us the people that let them pursue their dreams_

**@Tobiodesperateforattention:** _this is just embarrassing poor Kei id rather die than be seen with that rat_

> **@Keiishawt:** _same_
> 
> **@Keijikissme:** _this is just mean man...like what did you gain by doing this?_
> 
> **@Tobiodesperateforattention:** _its not mean its public service because Kei deserves better._

Eyes filling up with tears Tobio continued reading the comments, and for every person defending him there were at least twenty actively hating him. Chest constricting Tobio gasped, chin trembling as the tweets just got so much worse. Shuffling out of Kei’s embrace he hit his boyfriend's chest a bit too hard, trying to wake Kei up as his breathing started to increase, eyes still glued to the hate comments. His name was dragged through the mud by Kei's fans, suddenly he was back on the set of In Between the Past and Present. All alone as everybody watched people booing him, joining in. He was once again one of the most hated people in the industry all for loving Kei, and all his efforts to change had been washed down the drain. 

"What the hell Tobio?!" Kei snapped groggily, rubbing the spot on his chest, he blinked looking at his phone in his boyfriend's hands. "Did you wake me up to show me a meme?" He asked, able to recall about five instances where this has happened before, the worst thing was though that he had already seen the memes. 

"No," Tobio pouted, his eyes shining with unshed tears, with every new comment that popped up, he knew it was just a matter of time before he actually cried. 

"Babe?" Alarmed Kei once again sat up in the bed,"what's wrong?"

Tobio joined him not even feeling the soreness in his legs, pulling up the pictures he shoved the phone into Kei’s face,"look,” he muttered, voice breaking, hiding his face in Kei’s shoulder,“they found out."

Kei looked at the photos, saving them, in awe of Tobio’s beauty in the fourth picture. Shaking his head, he scrolled down, trying to find out what had caused Tobio to be on the verge of crying. Clenching his jaw when he saw the start of what appeared to be endless hate comments criticizing Tobio. He frowned, reading through them, anger boiling him from the inside out. Because fans - or well people who dared to claim to be fans were criticizing his boyfriend this ruthlessly, turning off the device, he turned his attention to Tobio. 

"People aren't taking it well," Tobio whispered, lifting up his face from Kei’s shoulder, eyes downcast to hide the tears that were starting to fall down his face. He knew that he always had trouble fitting in and often was oblivious to the world around him but these people came for him, they had called him out directly. He looked at his hands, slowly bringing them up to touch his face, did he truly look that awful? Tobio knew he had been through rough patches before but he never really thought he looked as despicable as these people were making him out to be.

Maybe it was because he had started to gain weight again? Last time people had come after him for being fired from n Between the Past and Present and gaining weight so that must mean something. But was it really a bad thing if he didn’t look as defined as he always did? What if Kei didn’t like him anymore? Kei had told him he loved him yesterday and had shown it all throughout the night. But what if the blond also agreed with the hate comments and that Tobio should be returned to the streets. Then again it wasn’t Tobio’s fault, he had been given different pills, to overcome the depression he had fallen in after he thought that he was just a bet to Kei. 

“Babe? Tobes? Tobiooo?” Kei said, wiping away the tears. Tobio looked at Kei and just wanted to hide from the world with Kei. Wanted to stay in the penthouse forever so he wouldn’t have to deal with anybody that wasn’t Kei, because Kei loved him and had said so. And Tobio trusted Kei more than he trusted the mean thoughts in his head. 

Kei looked at Tobio who looked like Dani when she was crying sitting on her throne avoiding eye contact with everybody, looking absolutely completely miserable. From the movie Midsommar, they had watched before everything happened and they had been separated for a while. Kei didn't like it, didn't want Tobio to be miserable because of people that didn't even know him. Didn't know how wonderful the mighty King truly was. It was unacceptable. 

“Yeah?” Tobio whispered, tears still streaming down his face. 

"King,” Kei started, knowing that this was thin ice, and one step could break everything, utterly collapse the foundations of their relationship that they were still building back up. “Our relationship isn't for anybody else but us, so fuck all these haters."

"But these are the people that can make or break a career.” 

“I don’t care,” Kei frowned, and although his words were filled with an underlying anger, his touch was still so gentle, thumb stroking over Tobio’s cheeks wiping the tears that just didn’t stop,“if I have to choose between you or this toxic industry you win by a shit-ton.” 

“But Kei you love music and--”

“And I love you more,” Kei blurted, ears heating up, embarrassed with how Tobio was just able to get him to say cheesy stuff like that. Not being able to find it in himself to be angry about it when Tobio looked like he had hung the stars and moon into the sky. 

“Okay,” Tobio muttered as a beat of silence passed between them. 

“Okay.” 

Opening up the drawer of the nightstand he grabbed the remote, turning on the tv. “What are we watching?”

“Your stupid show.”

“It’s not stupid!”

Kei rolled his eyes,“of course it isn’t your majesty. You want me to order breakfast?” 

“What’s the time?” 

“Nine forty-five.” 

“Can we wait a bit? I don’t feel hungry right now,” Tobio whispered. 

“Alright King we can wait.” 

They watched two full episodes, when Kei’s phone started to buzz. Sighing, the man looked at the caller id, before declining the call. It was just Kuroo, who then sent a shitton of messages. 

“Uggh,” Kei complained, opening up messages, surprised to see just how many people had texted him. 

“You’re so popular Kei.” 

“What?” 

“Look at all the messages,” Tobio said pointing at all the texts.

“Babe they’re all asking if the pictures are real.” 

Another message popped up from Suna and Kei smirked as more messages followed the initial one,“oh. Kei, what is your relationship with Suna?” Tobio asked, watching Kei open the man’s messages. 

> **Suna [11:33 AM]:** WTF 
> 
> **Suna [11:33 AM]:** u managed to snag Tobio Kageyama
> 
> **Suna [11:33 AM]:** u managed to snag Tobio Kageyama?!
> 
> **Suna [11:33 AM]:** YOU!!!
> 
> **Suna [11:34 AM]:** wtf is this y u called yesterday?” 
> 
> **Me [11:35 AM]:** don’t worry about it
> 
> **Suna [11:35 AM]:** bastard

“Suna and I are frenemies.”

“That makes sense," Tobio hummed,"what favour did he owe you?” 

Kei smirked, pressing a kiss against Tobio’s cheek,“let’s just say King it involves ice skating, concussions, and a lot of pining.”

“Kei,” Tobio whined,“that doesn’t make any sense.” 

“I promised I wouldn’t tell anybody which is why he owed me a favor and since he came through I’m just going to honour my word.” 

Tobio’s eyes twinkled, still a bit swollen around the edges from his crying session earlier,“oh my a man of honour,” he said in a British accent that was of course perfect since this was the one and only Tobio Kageyama. 

“Oh my indeed,” Kei returned in a passable British accent that Tobio smiled at. 

Taking his hand Tobio intertwined their fingers, as Kei scrolled through the different texts he received not opening any,“why’d you call Suna yesterday instead of Koutarou or Tetsurou?” 

“Would you have believed them?” 

“No.” 

“There’s your answer.” 

“Yeah but how do you know that?”

“Because King I would have never believed them, I would have thought they were all in on it and were trying to save face...why would I take that unnecessary risk?” 

Tobio smiled,“you’re embarrassing Kei,” he muttered, even though a pretty light pink dusted his face. 

“And yet you love me,” Kei smirked. 

Tobio huffed watching Kei open the notes app,“what are you doing?” he asked. 

“Confirming our relationship, I can’t deal with this many messages.” 

Tobio nodded, resting his head on Kei's shoulder, who wrapped an arm around the man, typing with one hand, making use of the swipe to type faster much to Tobio’s dismay since he couldn’t do that to save his life. Once they both 

**@KEI:** To everybody, 

> as most people who have heard of me or follow my work know I am a private person. I love my job and wouldn’t trade it for the world, however I will not _ever_ tolerate hate towards another person based on their relations to me. Who I date is my business and my partner’s and nobody else’s. But because the fucking paparazzi can’t mind their own business and leaked a private moment between me and my boyfriend who is indeed Tobio Kageyama, the youngest EGOT winner ever, one of the hardest working individual I've ever met, who wants better for everybody and doesn't hesitate people who need help, I was forced to make this post. Since some people think it is funny to tarnish his name I’m going to say it once no hate will be tolerated. I don’t know who thought it would be a funny idea to come up with rumors that this is a ploy or that Tobio is a gold digger, but fucking stop. No fan of mine or the band’s supports the slandering of Tobio’s name, and if you do stop consuming our products. We don’t need your hating, bitter energy and leave since we could care less about your presence in our fanbase. 

**@KEI:** _I do what I fucking want, because you people told me not to date him I’m going to date him harder._

> **@Keijiswife:** _As somebody whose been a fan of you for a long time I support this...you deserve all the love ❤️_
> 
> **@Tetsuismyman:** _I wish all the best 💞💞_
> 
> **@bokutostitties:** _You guys are too cute and I'm sorry the paparazzi and crazy people ruined it for y'all_
> 
> **@levsgreeneyez:** _y’all are hella cute man all the best!!!!_
> 
> **@shouyouisthesun:** _You go Kei!! Love the shit out of your man!!!!_
> 
> **@tsukkikei:** _ <3 <3 love conquers all in the end :)) _
> 
> **@namaonh:** _You and Shouyou belong together though!!!_
> 
> **@phineasandfurbieee:** _No! You and Tetsu!!!_
> 
> **@thick12343dick:** _You literally belong with Tadashi so i’m not going to even acknowledge this post_
> 
> **@ldvm26:** _y’all are so cute like I can’t oof all the best man!!_
> 
> **@doomzdaisy:** _date that man as hard as you can!!!!_

“What are we going to do now?” Tobio asked smiling as Kei’s phone just blew up with more notifications from all the social media platforms he was on. Happy that his boyfriend had defended him...and sure it sucked being hated on but atleast Kei was here with him. 

“It’s Christmas in two days.”

“Yeah?” 

“Wanna spend it in Seattle with my family? And before you say no consider this...I’m an uncle now, and my nephew is very cute.”

Tobio blinked, lifting his head up from where it had been resting on Kei’s shoulder,“you want me to meet you family?”

Kei nodded,“I actually...wait here,” he said, getting up from the bed walking over to the opened presents he had gifted Tobio yesterday. Hidden in the corner was a small box he had chickened out given. Afraid it would be too soon with everything that had already happened between them. 

Handing the box to Tobio he held his breath as Tobio lifted up the lid, looking at a set of keys. “These are keys…”

“For my house in LA.”

Kei could just hear the cogs turn in Tobio’s head before the man gasped,“you...do you want me to...do you want me to...wait no,” Tobio frowned narrowing his eyes,“do you want me to keep these safe incase you lose yours?” 

Kei facepalmed, having forgotten he was in love with an idiot,“no. I want you to move in with me in LA.”

Gasping, Tobio’s eyes were wide,“you wanna...in LA?”

“Yes.” 

“In your really big house?” 

“Yes.” 

“With that ugly green and yellow wall.”

Kei shook his head grimacing,“it isn’t ugly...it’s--”

“--hideous.” 

Kei sighed, they had this argument multiple times where Tobio hated on Kei’s dark green and yellow wall that he had gotten done specifically to annoy Kuroo who had something against those two colors. Often muttering about how they reminded him of snakes. 

“Guess I’ll just have to change it,” Tobio said. 

Kei looked at Tobio with surprise, his boyfriend just shrugged, flashing him a tiny smile revealing his dimples,“guess you do,” Kei agreed. 

“Alright.” 

“Okay.” 

“Also yes.”

“To?” 

“Meeting your family, and then maybe at New Years we can go meet my sister, her husband and my adorable niece.”

Kei nodded although a part of him dreaded meeting Miwa Kageyama who might just still be out for his blood,“as long as you promise not to leave my side.”

“Well as long as you promise not to let your fans come between us.”

Kei shook his head,“King don’t even worry about those commoners. They got nothing on you,” Kei assured, because they didn’t. Nobody had anything on Tobio and if Kei was forced to choose, he would choose this pretentious idiot whenever he could. 

“Still pinky promise,” Tobio said, holding out his pinky. 

Kei bit his lip, wrapping his pinky around Tobio’s,“it’s a deal.” 

Leaning in he captured Tobio’s lips with his own, he had his boyfriend fully naked in bed, and instead of taking advantage of that he had to fight battles against stupid people who had the audacity to make Tobio cry. Guess it never was too late, since Tobio let out a breathy,” _Kei._ ”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wanna die after this chapter...not because of the writing or anything just the fucking formatting like omfg I am stupid idk how this stupid html shit works like wtf...besides that I didn't edit this cuz I wrote this on my phone cuz my laptop got delayed so that's fun. So please don't mind my shitty grammar... But oof so close to the end, which might take some time cuz finals are here dun dun dun...  
> *You guys literally don't care but the two ideas that went into this fic were Hinata and yams plus others lusting after Tsukki who was in a secret relationship with Kags in a university setting, and the other idea was Tsukki making a bet with Bokuto and Kuroo that he can melt the ice King aka kags who is a harsh art critic and just like in this story they go on a “not-date” to a museum but their roles are reversed and Kags is very passionately talking about the art and Tsukki is like damn there’s more to him. As you can see there elements of both those idea in this story, I decided it would be easier to just mix them into one and having them be famous just because it causes the stakes to be higher because they obviously know of each other but don’t know each other. One day I might just write the Tsukki harem fic but that's not today or in this year. And also I wanted to write mean comments lmao like I don't know if y'all noticed but I had so much fun writing those :))  
> **thank you guys for the 300 kudos and all the comments like y'all will never know how grateful I am that people actually like my writing and are actually waiting for the next update like oof it's just yeah...just thank you guys so much.


	16. Epilogue

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please do the 100% anonymous google form in the end notes

Yawning Tobio softly slid open the door to the balcony, hoping he wouldn’t accidentally wake Kei up. Nuzzling into the fabric of his soft bathroom robe he enjoyed the soft winter breeze the night brought. Living in LA was everything and nothing like Tobio had expected. It truly was a city that never slept, lights were always on, flashing from the distance as Tobio watched from the comforts of his home, something he never thought would happen.

Tobio had lived in many different buildings from studio apartments to lofts. The only home he had ever known was his grandfather’s house near the beach in Hawaii. Where he’d walk a short distance to dip his toes in bright blue water. A house filled with music and memories...until only fading echoes were left and both Miwa and him abandoned the ghosts haunting them. The many pictures of a happy family no longer a reality for the siblings. 

That’s how it had been for many years until Tobio met Kei, the stupid beanpole who had captured his heart as cheesy as it sounded. But then again Tobio wasn’t a poet, sure he occasionally dabbled in song writing but Kei had a way with words, always knowing what to say. Because if Tobio was a bit more of a poet he would never have shut up about Kei from his looks to his personality.

Playing around with soft straps Tobio sighed, LA wasn’t as cold as New York had been and Tobio found it hard to believe how fast a year had passed. How he had just blinked and looked at a calendar realizing he and Kei had been living-or well officially living together for almost a year now. He sometimes wondered what would have happened if Kei and him hadn’t made up. If Tobio would have been staying back in New York in another play, or if he was still working on an art show like he currently was. He wondered how he would have handled being alone...or well maybe that was unfair since that Tobio would have never known the warmth of Kei’s family. The way the older man’s family had welcomed him with wide open arms despite the rumors and slandering of his name that got worse everyday. How close he was with Kei’s mother- _mom_ in the comforts of his own mind, not being confident to say it aloud yet. It was just baffling to Tobio how many people truly cared about him, even when every social media outlet seemed hell bound on destroying him. 

Tobio wondered about many things...Kei called most of them stupid since the brunet once again had started to listen to old insecurities that had never gotten buried. Letting them keep him awake for days on end. But then again Kei listened to all his worries even when Tobio wasn’t able to word them as well as he would have liked. Kei listened and thought about them carefully before refuting them, lacing every word that left his mouth with truths that should make the nights easier for Tobio to bear. 

And they would have been if it weren’t for the fact that the band was going on tour soon and Tobio was scared of the many fans, both haters and lovers that would attend. He knew that some people would absolutely lose their shit if they knew he was touring with the band. So caught up in his own head he didn’t notice the door behind him sliding open again. Almost screaming when Kei whispered a soft,“boo,” in his ear, hugging him from behind.

Frowning Tobio tried to move out of Kei’s embrace, heart still racing in his chest,“asshole,” he muttered, giving up struggling once he realized Kei wasn’t going to let him go. ‘Stupid home gym with weights,’ he thought bitterly. 

“Damn King, such a big revelation to have at four in the morning.”

“Hmpf,” Tobio huffed, looking at the pretty lights in the far distance that Kei probably couldn’t see. 

Kei rested his chin on top of Tobio’s head, slowly swaying from side to side, moving Tobio with him to the rhythm of the quiet winter breeze. “You good?” 

“Yeah...just couldn’t sleep.”

“Why?” 

Tobio shrugged,“don’t know,” he mumbled, practically feeling Kei’s eyes roll, Tobio sighed,“stress?” he offered as a pathetic excuse not wanting Kei to call off the tour like he had threatened to do so many times, one time even getting all the members on board not that it was hard since he had a good reason...but still Tobio didn't wanna have to talk his boyfriend down again. 

“About?”

“Life?” 

There was a beat of silence between them before Kei turned Tobio around, gently tilting the other’s head up,“life uh?” 

“Yeah?” Tobio whispered, looking away from Kei. 

Kei clicked his tongue,“tch. King you suck at lying.”

Tobio frowned, yeah he did but no,“I’m an actor though.”

“Yeah...I never said you were bad at acting babe, just lying.” 

Tobio shrugged again, what was he supposed to say to that?

Kei’s eyes softened,“is it about the tour,” he whispered.

Tobio didn’t reply opting to just focus on the night sky, that wasn’t as dark as other places. He wondered if LA was more polluted than other cities since the sky never properly darkened. Or maybe it was just the lights that always seemed to be on, never running out of power. 

“I’ll take that as a yes.” 

Tobio focused his gaze on Kei’s face, racing up to stroke through Kei’s messy wavy hair, no doubt having just woken up. Kei closed his eyes, nuzzling into Tobio’s touch, biting his lip to stop himself from laughing, Tobio's heart did backflips in his chest. He was just so overwhelmingly in love with Kei Tsukishima it was embarrassing.

After a minute or two Kei opened his eyes again, reminding Tobio of molten gold,“you know if you don’t want to go I’ll just tell the ba--”

“No,” Tobio said shaking his head, fingers still running through soft waves. 

“What?” 

“You’re not cancelling the tour because I maybe don’t want to go.”

“Tob--” 

“Kei,” Tobio interrupted,“I know you think people don’t deserve it because of how mean they have been to me but...not everybody should suffer because of some people’s actions.”

“Yeah, but us cancelling the tour would teach them that their actions and words also have consequences.” 

“Yes but you risk angering the good ones who have been trying to stop the bad ones.” 

“Ba--” 

Tobio pouted,“besides you’re the only one not respecting my wishes.”

After everything that happened and was happening Tobio had a long talk with a lot of people, his therapist, Miwa, Kei’s mom, Akiteru, Saeko, Akaashi, Bokuto, Kuroo, Sugawara, Sakusa, Hinata, Yamaguchi and Yachi...he had a tea with Lev and Alisa that was a nice day. But after all that talking Tobio realized he wanted the good fans to be rewarded and they deserved to see their favorite songs performed live, both from the band’s album and from the play they worked on last year. Everybody was okay with it except Kei, or well they respected Tobio's wishes. After all they asked Tobio since the band knew all the crap he was getting from their fans and valued his comfort more than that of a bunch of haters. 

Kei sighed,“I don’t want you to regret this. We can just stay at home, just us with no people who hate you.” 

Shaking his head Tobio cupped Kei’s face,“I’m actually looking forward to performing some songs with you guys plus Hitoka and Tadashi are also joining so staying backstage is going to be fun because you know how...actually you don’t know.”

“What do I not know?” Kei asked, raising his eyebrow.

“How Tadashi has something going on with Yuuji Terushima...but remember I didn’t tell you this.” 

Kei huffed out a laugh,“yeah I remember babe, I was there when we accidentally almost walked in on them and Tadashi only saw you, begging you not to say anything to me...which you actually agree to.”

Tobio opened and closed his mouth before pouting, softly whining,“well what else was I supposed to do? I got...you know...it was just…”

“Caught in the moment?” 

“yeah...I totally forgot you were there.”

“Yeah I know babe, I was there, remember? Well you don’t with your shitty memory.”

“Asshole.”

“Yeah yeah,” Kei agreed, taking Tobio’s hands off his face and intertwining their fingers together. “You sure you wanna go on tour?” 

“Yes I’m just scared that it will,” Tobio swallowed, kind of embarrassed with his own insecurities,“that it might ruin the experience for some people.”

“Babe…” 

“Fans got us here and I want all of them to have a good time.” 

Kei shook his head, planting a kiss on Tobio’s cheek,“you’re way too good for your own well-being King even when you don’t know what the fuck is happening.” 

“That’s not--”

Kei suddenly leaned in, and even though Tobio knew what was happening a stupid blush still crawled up his face. Who the hell gave the blond that much power over him?! “May I?” Kei whispered, Tobio nodded. Capturing his lip they kissed like they had all the time in the world, the wind still swaying them from side to side, ruffling their hairs. It was soft and sweet, filled with the promises of more, with fondness and love that words just didn’t capture. 

When they pulled away Tobio noticed the way Kei didn’t even close the sliding door behind him, no doubt causing the bedroom to be cold now,“why are you awake?” he asked, still eyeing the door. Kei didn’t like waking up unless the sun was high in the sky so Tobio was surprised to see him awake and somewhat coherent. 

“You woke me up.” 

“No I didn’t!” Tobio protested, he had literally gotten out of bed so quietly. Had tiptoed to the connecting bathroom, softly opened the door grabbing his bathroom from the hook. He then had softly tiptoed to the door, slowly sliding it open, then slowly closing it. He had been like a ninja, as quiet as a shadow, no sound made whatsoever. 

“When you were putting on your bathrobe you knocked something over that literally echoed,” Tobio hadn’t heard anything so Kei was lying,“and that door slammed shut behind you,” that was bull, Kei was so full of it. “And then you opened the sliding door before literally slamming it close.”

Tobio frowned, nostrils flaring,“I literally didn’t do that,” he said, he would have literally heard the doors slamming shut or something hitting their tiled bathroom floor, echoing as Kei had said. 

“Yes you did.”

“Well you didn’t close the door so now our room is cold.” 

“And? You woke me up by being so loud.”

“And?” Tobio retorted. 

Kei smirked,“Your Royal Highness did you forget that Hitoka, Tadashi and Shouyou are all coming over for lunch and a sleepover?” 

Tobio blinked, he had actually forgotten about that and if those three were coming over that meant they wouldn’t sleep all night. It was crazy now that Tobio thought about how close he had grown to Hinata and Yamaguchi who then had brought Yachi into their friend group. Now they all tried to have lunch once a week and a sleepover once per month. Tobio was grateful that Kei had brought so many wonderful people into his life. 

“Damn babe.” 

“Oh shut up,” Tobio said, breaking out of Kei’s embrace and dragging the man back to their room,“we have to sleep or you will be cranky. Plus I think Hitoka is having some relationship troubles.”

“What?” Kei asked, sliding the door close and locking it, before hopping into bed, slightly shivering. 

Tobio neatly hung his bathrobe up on the hooks inside the bathroom before joining Kei in bed, letting himself be pulled in by Kei, who basically used him as a big stuffed animal that also served as a personal heater. 

“Yeah, she has to choose between two women or something or she liked two I don’t remember but Shouyou was saying something along those lines.”

“Well Shouyou’s word is only true about thirty-five percent of the time.”

“Is that good?” Tobio asked, snuggling into Kei who wrapped the blankets tighter around them.

“No.” 

“Oh.” 

“Yeah.”

“Well I thought because thirty-five is higher than zero.”

“Yes but it’s so far from one-hundred.”

“What does one-hundred have to do with thirty-five percent.”

“Just go to sleep King.”

“No tell me.”

“No go to sleep.”

"Tell me!”

“Go to sleep!”

“No--

To say somebody was cranky in the morning was an understatement especially since that person had to go over percentages with another person until seven am which somehow turned into watching spelling bee videos...it was a tiring start of the day. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this it eyyy?? Well oof I'm getting emotional but I just wanna thank everybody for sticking with this story and seeing it through to the end. I know how easy it is too lose interest in something so I'm just really grateful if you made it to the end and ya know enjoyed the journey...I'm really emotional and proud of myself of seeing this through to end especially when there were times I just was over it, but you guys kept me going :)) Weird to think this all happened because I wanted to name chapters...Thank you so so so much for leaving kudos and comments...y'all won't believe how much I really reread all the things people write like oof thank you for taking time out of your day to comment on this piece of trash :))  
> *I would really appreciate it if y’all did [this 100% anonymous google form](https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdGuQHW-a1Jc8iMpoFB9eLWAaDkTcVHYRbByT6rsPQlyu_Czw/viewform?usp=sf_link)  
> **hit me up on [twitter](https://twitter.com/lvdm26)  
> ***check out my other works...if you liked this one I highly recommend Baby Steps cuz it has baby Kags and who doesn't love baby Kags?! (just let me shamelessly self-advertise myself ;)))) I have written more so also check out those works!!  
> ****once again thank y'all so much for just sticking this out with me like y'all deserve the world for being able to read this piece of trash ya know, but I hope you had fun doing it!! thank you and may we meet again ;))

**Author's Note:**

> Congrats to everybody who actually made it to the end!!! Leave me a kudo or a comment, or be wild an do both ;))) but actually guys I absolutely love and appreciate comments so yeah write anything from constructive criticism to what you thought of the fic is welcomed...


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